That Crazy Animal Lady
by Dr. Mini me
Summary: "I don't think I can take no as an answer, with all due respect, Mr Scamander. " I pursed my lips, hoping that wasn't too bold. "Why not?" He tilted his head, watching my face as I came up with an answer that didn't scream 'crazy animal lady' too loudly. (OCXNewt) (probably no Tina)
1. Chapter 1

_**New story! Touching the harry potter universe again with more enthusiasm. We're in 1921, London, summertime.**_

* * *

This Newton Artemis Fido Scamander that I'd been hunting for the last year or so was almost in my grasp. The man was hard to find and many simply pointed me towards his brother, Theseus. What use could I possibly have for a war hero when I was on a search for studying the Billywig among other things? I needed a partner of some kind, someone who had the ability and the means to teach me.

He was always so quiet in school. Concerned for all that were too little to fight or take care of themselves. The concern. Thats what I wanted in my teacher and I had him this time. I know I do! I just nee-

"Sorry, sorry." A younger man mumbled his apologies as his suit case hit my shin. I nodded to him, eyeing him briefly before my eyes sunk in on the sandy blonde hair that I'd been searching for.

"Mr- Wait! Sir!" I began my run, pushing people out of the way on the busy Railway platform. Muggles looked rather grumpy with me as I shoved my way past them. I'd traveled for so long, just to lose him at the entrance Waterloo station...no. That simply will not do.

"MR SCAMANDER!" I screamed his name this time, searching for his head as I tried to jump above the heads of so many others. This was an oddly warm day for an English summer so I'd worked up quite a sweat. All in all, I may have looked a tensy bit like a lunatic, running up and down the stairs while screaming a name that didn't mean much of anything to anyone else.

"MR SCAMANDER!" I shouted it again, spying a shaggy blonde head of hair turn.

It disappeared, leaving me in a brief bit of confusion until I felt something climbing over my shoulder. My head spun to find a niffler, attempting to undo an earring. Black fur glinted back at me making me move before a Muggle spotted it and thought him to be a large rat.

"Hi there." I mumbled half to me and half to him as I pulled the little thing off my shoulder. I watched him eye me with a touch of amusement at this little guy's confidence.

"May I have that little bugger back?" An accented voice asked softly next to me, making me jump and hug the niffler to my chest.

"Mr Scamander!" I felt relief take me, a year of tracking this man down hadn't been wasted.

"Oh my goodness, you have no idea how hard I've searched to find you." I breathed with a smile.

"So I've heard. May I know why, Miss...Maximae was it?" He didn't look me in the eyes for very long, switching between my face and my chest.

"How...how did you hear?" I paused a second until I remembered I'd been holding his pet to my chest.

"My brother's last letter found me before you did." He shrugged robotically, moving to take the niffler out of my hands.

"Well...I just wanted to ask...to see if well. If by any chance you'd be willing to take another on your discoveries." I rephrased my question several different times before I really got it right. I was suddenly feeling nervous watching this man as he slipped the little thing out of my hands and into his suitcase.

"Is that a Bowtruckle?" My eyes strayed from his to the green speck that had peeked out of his jacket pocket and popped back in as soon as we made eye contact.

"Yes." He looked a touch surprised as he nodded, snapping his suitcase shut.

"Oh wow. Do you have a whole branch or only this wee fellow?" A grin erupted over my face as I leaned into his personal bubble to peek at the lanky looking stick figure.

"I do but...he likes to hang on. Pickett is his name." Scamander responded slowly.

"Thats so sweet." I sighed as I noticed his taut shoulder and decided to lean back. I needed to be a little more aware of my surroundings, I'd say.

"As for the trip, Uh. I don't know if you'd really want too. I don't sleep in the finest of places for a lady like you." He murmured wearily as he took in my outfit.

"Oh nonsense!" I waved away his notion of me being unable to sleep in the dirt.

"I just enjoy dressing well when I go about shouting random men's names in the railway station." I giggled nervously, hoping this wouldn't be his reason to say no. Just because I dressed well, didn't mean I wasn't okay with getting dirty. My parents had simply left me quite a bit when they'd passed. Thats all.

"Then...what are you looking to find? And can you pay your own?" He raised a brow, glancing at me again before looking right beside my face.

"Knowledge. I've found my calling in Magizoology and I need a teacher, now as you can imagine. Not many of those so I thought I'd look around and see if I could find a good one. Theres quite a couple of fakes out there, well fakes and flakes, and I'm not either of those!" I took in a breath, realizing I was rambling now.

"And, I can pay my own. No worries there!" I gasped out, trying to keep from panicking this badly in front of the man I was supposed to somehow impress with my knowledge into getting him to teach me. Now I just seemed desperate.

"Um. I really do want to say no-" He started as I held up a hand.

"I don't think I can take no as an answer, with all due respect, Mr Scamander. " I pursed my lips, hoping that wasn't _too_ bold.

"Why not?" He tilted his head, watching my face as I came up with an answer that didn't scream 'crazy animal lady' too loudly.

"I uh...I just really love these creatures." I mumbled, feeling a little inept at phrasing things well. He seemed to think for a second, scanning me once more before he looked away but this time it was to the other side, where his bowtruckle, Pickett, sat.

"Are you quite sure?" He raised a brow, eyeing the creature with disbelief. I felt more anxiety set in as a creaky smile became plastered to my face, I did this when I was really nervous. Awful rambler and an awful faker of confidence. Ara, why can't you just be calm? Who grins like this? Not normal wizards or witches, thats who.

"Well, Miss Maximae, you're welcome to try and keep up." Mr Scamander looked back to me quickly as he started to hurry towards the train compartment he seemed to belong in. Excitement tingled at my very finger tips until I couldn't feel them any more and set about getting a ticket as quickly as possible. I don't even know where this train was going but I would surely be on it.

* * *

I sped towards the cabin I'd seen him go into and found him talking to his suitcase. It was almost comical to see him mumbling threats into the leather and fabric bag, I was curious still though.

"What's in there?" I tilted my head, pondering if he possibly had all his animals in it. I watched him quickly shut it, locking it at the top with speed.

"It's just a suitcase." He replied quickly, noticing I was in the cabin now as well.

"Doubtful." I disagreed, raising a brow at his attempt to cover what just happened.

"Fine, you got me. It's my workspace, I house my creatures there for safekeeping." He admitted in a soft voice. I nodded in understanding as the silence drained on between us, covered by the sounds of the train's wheels pumping away under us.

"You don't remember me, do you?" I tilted my head, watching him for any sort of reaction.

"I do." He nodded. I'd been in Ravenclaw, a bookworm at heart, while he'd sat alone in Hufflepuff. Well, alone until he was expelled for his little Jarvey incident with Leta Lestrange. I was always interested in his comings and goings simply because that while he'd been officially expelled...I still saw him in some classes and on school grounds.

"What do you remember then?" My head tilted the other way, this time from curiousity.

"I know you were a Ravenclaw, in my year, and you had the most peculiar habit of constantly separating all your foods on your plate at mealtimes." He listed off facts about me in a random fashion, as though those were just the first he could recall about me.

"How did you see me doing it?" I furrowed my brow with my mouth half open in disbelief.

"I watched when I sat next to you once in our sixth year, I think. You did it every time afterwards though, you'd stop contributing to conversation. Separate everything into piles, and then resume conversation." He shrugged awkwardly, still glancing between me and the space to the right of my head.

"Huh. I forgot I'd invited you to sit with me then." I leaned back and looked out the window as I tried to remember that. I think it was when I'd first started getting interested in Magical Creatures, hoped to learn something from the boy. I suppose now, I had the chance and the will to do so. This would prove to be an interesting trip...wait.

"Where are we going?" I broke out of my thoughts to ask him.

"Oh. Right, we're going to Switzerland. Quick trip down the Withered Arm and out to sail to the mainland." He nodded, a small and excited smile cropped up as he recounted where we'd be going.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Sorry guys, these are shorter chapters than I'm used too, still trying to get a feel of the period, the characters, and the world I'm in. Thank you for all the follows and favourites!**_

 _ **D.D: I'm trying! I've got the start of the next chapter already written but it just didn't feel like it belonged in this one.**_

* * *

"And whatever for?" I raised a brow, wondering what creature could possibly make its home near the Swiss. Maybe it was the Alps they'd gone for, much less people up there.

"Oh, Graphorns. I've heard that the last two reside there." He shrugged, looking at me with mild confusion. As though this should be quite obvious to me. I'd heard of these beasts before, a greyish purple hide that repelled nearly all sorts of spells and incredibly valuable horns. Such horns could be used in a number of anti-jinxing potions, very powerful...

"You...Please don't take this to be an offense, but surely you don't mean to _hunt_ them?" I viewed him through an incredulous look as his melded into shock at the idea.

"Of course not!" He sputtered, shaking his head. I have to say, I feel kind of just...awful for even wondering that? I'd searched for him for a _year_ , specifically because of the amount of concern he'd shown for his creatures and his study of them throughout school.

"No. I'd much rather...save them. I know poachers are quite interested in their hide and their horns." He seemed mildly reproachful, making me feel a touch awkward as I sank down into my seat. I think I'm quite done making a fool out of myself.

* * *

It was almost a tad difficult to run as fast as Mr Scamander did, especially through customs before we got onto our streamliner after travelling nearly 10 hours from Waterloo to Brighton. Despite the long silences and nothing but the train, I didn't want to abandon the trip entirely. T

hough, I felt a little awkward the entire time anyways half from the question about him hunting them and half because of the constant silence and his peering glances. It felt as though he was trying to figure something out about me. I'd distracted myself with going through my bag, and sorting everything.

I had nothing but my bag on me and it'd come in handy many an occasion. Of course, what couldn't a purse with an undetectable expansion charm be good for? Such a little thing, the men at the borders between England and the rest of Europe didn't bother paying it any attention but it still carried so much. Much better than Mr Scamander's suitcase.

It would take us only a few hours to cross the water but, in those few hours, I'd snapped his suitcase shut again nearly 12 times. I was going to sew it shut soon, or at least wrap something around his little snaps to stop whatever wanted out, from coming out.

"Oh, right. Thank you." He nodded to me, sitting down at the metal benches that were available to passengers on the top floor. Merlin's beard. This was an experience, just traveling with the man and I didn't even know what he had down in there.

"Has anything ever...simply escaped from there?" I questioned warily, worried about having to chase down particularly rambunctious creatures.

"Oh no, not to date anyways. Well. Outside of the niffler. But he's harmless, really." Mr Scamander shrugged slowly, I could see him thinking to himself as to what had truly escaped and what hadn't.

"What's his name?" I wondered as I watched Newts face fade into a pinched look.

"He...doesn't have one." Scamander answered slowly, almost as though he'd been embarrassed about it.

"Would you like some suggestions?" I inquired pleasantly.

"Certainly, Miss Maximae but I suppose we ought to wait until he can weigh in as well." He nodded, almost looking excited at the thought while his eyes flickered from in front of him to the suitcase that sat between us.

"You can call me Ara, or Araminte if you really want to get formal, Mr Scamander." I smiled at him softly, his crooked nose seemed to twitch as he glanced at me then quickly forwards again.

"I'd quite honestly forgotten your name but remembered your accent." He had the decency to at least sound a bit apologetic. I pursed my lips as I thought about little of an irish accent I had left from when I was 16. After my parents passed, I stayed out and away from Ireland.

"It's not that it isn't a memorable one, its simply that I was in quite the rush when you'd introduced yourself." He exclaimed quickly afterwards, bringing another smile to my face.

"I hate to ruin a perfectly good reason but, I never actually introduced myself." I recalled with amusement as the tips of his ears turned a shade pinker than usual.

"Right." Mr Scamander acknowledged that little lack of instance with a shake of his head.

Silence drifted between us, making me feel awkward. As though I needed to chatter to keep it from being so silent with this man. Honestly, now that I'd found him, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I'd forgotten to turn the page in my life's book to another.

I looked up as he stood. He sped off towards the stairs, taking the leather case with him. I had to guess these were to go onto the ground floor as I followed him down towards the exit. I was quite sure we'd landed ourselves in France, possibly Calais. It was an interesting language, French, but not so interesting in their culture. I did appreciate their wine, however. I suppose if it had to fall off the face of the earth, I'd only want to keep the country's wine.

"Another railway?" I wondered out loud to Mr Scamander. My thoughts were typically voiced as soon as I had them, a terrible habit of mine but it'd also allowed me to make great marks in my school years.

"It goes all the way to Rome, but we'll simply step off when need be." He nodded, explaining his plans to me finally. I scrambled about, grabbing a ticket for myself and slipping onto the right passenger car.

This was almost fun, riding the railways with him. We'd hit trains and boats, all that was left were those new Automobiles. I didn't fancy a ride on those though, too bumpy. I was simply sitting on the red fabric seats, looking out the window when I heard...a scuttling. Like little paws tapping over wood, it caught my attention.

I glanced quickly over, trying to not look strange to the man that sat on the other side of me. It was truly only my luck of the draw that _I'd_ spot what I assumed to be Mr Scamander's Niffler. He'd been caught midway in his efforts of removing the man's watch next to me.

I stared at him for only a second until I looked quickly back at Mr Scamander who was in front of me, facing the opposite of the train's direction. He'd been kind enough to do so when I looked a little ill about a 30 minutes into the journey. He eyed me with a questioning look as I stood quickly and mouthed the word _Niffler._ I began searching where I'd last seen him to find that he'd disappeared.

Lovely.

My search started rather low until I spotted a single clawed toe scuttle under another seat and suddenly decided that I needed to both fall down conspicuously and to be able to pass under the detection of these muggles. I thought and thought and thought until I came up with the ingenious idea of merely fainting over in a stumble.

"Oh my." And with that dainty cry I took my fall. In fact its probably the most graceful one I've had to date. Slipping my hand under the seat what I thought was best to find the minute creature that couldn't seem to understand how easily he'd been mistaken for a rat and exterminated as such.

A little foot scraped my hand as I tried my best to softly slip it under his legs and capture the little beast. I brought him back as my hands shifted to pull myself up. Concerned individuals went to help me but Mr Scamander seemed to catch my need rather quickly.

"Love? Oh, she's quite alright." Mr Scamander laughed unceremoniously to not alarm any of the other passengers as though I was merely his clumsy wife or lover. He was focused on getting the Niffler back into it's home in his case. A home away from those who could harm him, I couldn't blame him as he walked me back to my seat and we exchanged the creature conspicuously as possible.

I watched with a bit of amusement as he frustratedly glared at the niffler and pushed him back into the suitcase, locking it for sure this time. I let out a breathy laugh and turned towards the window, I was lucky enough to have gotten one, honestly. I just kept reminding myself I was here to learn and to thrive in a new environment, to do more than just adapt.


	3. Chapter 3

_**D.D: Possibly a galleon c;**_

 _ **MonicaStartrek: Thank you!**_

 _ **This chapter is actually out so early thanks to the reviews and follows/favourites. We're in Switzerland at the base of the Alps. (Still 1921)**_

* * *

30 hours later and I felt my body slow, drifting between following Mr Scamander and actually knowing what was going on around me was a bit of a nuisance. I'd found myself holding the Niffler, not bothering to glance at the Muggles whispering around me about the rat in my hands. Mr Scamander didn't seemed at all perturbed by the whispers and odd glances, I supposed he'd been used to this for a while now.

We'd checked into a boarding house of sorts near the alps. It wasn't expensive enough to be a hotel but held that respectable quality nonetheless, though we'd been hardpressed to find this one anyways. It was old and windy, probably built in the 1830's, honestly. I felt a chill grip my bones as I turned in the covers for some amount of warmth.

It was chilly here, snow on the ground and thinner air the closer we got to these gargantuous mountains. Luckily I'd thought ahead and had saved a few heavy coats just in case, I probably had a whole house worth of items in this purse. It weighed quite a bit sometimes too. Though that was only when I forgot to reinforce the charms on it. Monthly job of mine I sometimes forgot.

"Mr Scamander?" I called out softly into the darkness of the small 4x4 room we'd wound up sharing. A second passed, leading me to believe he was asleep. I almost felt bad for possibly disturbing his sleep.

"Yes, Ara?" He called back, just as soft as always. I heard a metallic popping and quickly snapped the metal piece back down. His Niffler had apparently grown quite attached to me after I'd carried him for the last few hours of our train ride and walk about. Seemed to continuously try to get out of the case...this was going to be long night.

"Do you usually sleep inside your case?" I wondered out loud, forgetting my original question for the moment.

"I used to, but my suitcase had an uncanny way of being moved into a new area every time I woke up. Felt it might test the fates if I got comfortable doing so." He explained warily. I nodded to that answer and went quiet for another second or two.

"Oh, also. Mr Scamander, if we have any sort of long term engagements such as this one, please do remind me to reinforce my purses' charms each month if you can." I asked nicely, hoping he might do so.

"I've honestly been rather surprised that he took such a liking to you. I've chased after that guy for weeks at a time before he'd agree to go back home. Always stealing things that aren't his." Mr Scamander mumbled the last sentence to himself in a bit of a mildly annoyed tone.

"Jealous, are we?" I grinned into the dark, not even the window that sat between us brought any light into the room. He let out a mix between a scoff and a chuckle, it made my grin grow even larger if that were possible.

"Well...All I can say is that this can be your first exam then." I raised a brow at those words, did he expect me to turn around and leave? Not bloody likely.

"To get him to stop stealing things, you mean?" I checked, making sure that this was what he meant and not some strange miracle.

"Mhm." He sounded as though this was a new and nearly impossible challenge for me to take at my own risk. Such a challenge I would take anyways.

"You're on, sir." I declared with some vengeance in my voice. He let out a little chuckle with the sound of fabric rustling to let me know he'd moved. I rolled over as well, keeping an ear out for any snapping of his case's locks in the night but it'd seemed that everyone was asleep finally.

* * *

I awoke to the feeling of cold again and decided I'd get up finally. Well. Only to sit on the floor with my knees pulled up to my chest. It was at this point that I remembered just how chilled I was and tried to think of something to warm myself. I had a large glass jar was specifically kept to act as a movable fireplace in times of need and today I had such a need.

So I began to feel around my purses' interior, checking each little compartment I'd procured until I spotted the glasses and grabbed the jar itself. Placing the jar on the chilled stone floor, I pointed my wands towards it and waved it in the fashion of a flame fit for the jar itself.

"Incendio." I whispered it at first, trying to not alarm Mr Scamander or wake him. When I felt it's warmth, I allowed my wand to hang down again. A Larch wood with Dragon heartstring core and with supple flexibility at 10 ¼" in length, I'd gotten along well with it.

It started out as a rocky relationship, one that I'd fought with time and time again, but I'd won it's respect. The only issue I'd found so far was that the dragon heartstrings were so temperamental. There was good chance that I'd have an accident from time to time, a spell would go arse over tit once or twice until we'd had a meeting of the minds and hearts.

I felt something sharp crawling over my back, possibly going for my shoulder and froze. His bloody case had opened _again._ There could be anything trying to get onto my shoulder right now...wait. He said everything was harmless in there. It can't be that bad. It'd found whatever place it'd wanted and had stopped on my shoulder. I turned my head slowly, as to not startle whatever it was.

Little beady and black eyes greeted me with a touch of glee. "Can I help you, little sir?" I peered at what seemed to the Niffler I'd had to fall over for yesterday. I felt my earrings to find that he hadn't taken them.

He reached into his belly's pouch to pull out a shiny, gold Galleon. I watched as he shook it towards me, both of his hands holding it up near my cheek. I raised a brow as I slowly reached towards him, wondering if I was meant to take it out of his little webbed claw like hands. He seemed to think I should, considering he kept shaking it at me with a happy sounding purring.

When I took it, I flipped it over in my hands to eye the dragon and the wizard I'd never placed. The weight of it told me that it was truly a galleon. I sighed as I looked back to see the Niffler looking rather proud of himself.

"Is this yours?" I murmured, watching him slowly shake his head.

"Then you need to put it back. Can you go put it back for me, love?" I raised a brow, holding the coin just above where he balanced on my shoulder. He seemed to huff (Grumpy perhaps?) but nodded nonetheless. He leaned forward, snatching the coin back out of my hand and hopping off my shoulder. Looking back, I watched as he climbed up the cot I'd been sleeping on to slip the galleon back into my purse.

Good grief, I didn't carry any of those in my purse. They were usually kept on my body somehow. Sometimes a jacket, or a pant's pocket. So where did he even get that from?

* * *

"Let me just get this straight, we're about to climb up that mountain in search of a Graphorn..." I recounted slowly, watching Mr Scamander nod slowly at me from under his fleece lined hood and jacket.

"And this is all because the locals claimed to have seen some large, horned beast with a humped back?" I raised a brow now, a little incredulous as he continued to nod. Like there was absolutely nothing wrong with his plan.

"I would try to track them but...its rather difficult with the snow." He looked a little apologetic, he knew this was a bit of a wild chase but was willing to try it.

"Fine." I sighed, nodding to myself. I tried to remember if I had everything, the fire was out, we had some food in both my bag and his own, the niffler was back in the suit case...wait.

"Where's the Niffler?" I called out, standing near the door with him waiting on me as I rechecked what I had inside my purse. I felt a tug on my pants leg and looked down to see the little thing waving up at me.

"Why didn't you go back into the case?" I raised a brow, kneeling down to be closer to his level. I felt like if I were being yelled at by a giant, it'd be easier if it were on my level. He shrugged, starting to go towards my purse, tugging on the red and purple bunched fabric that lined the whole accessory.

"I think you'd be much more comfortable in his." I remarked with a nod of my head towards Mr Scamander's direction while I slid a hand under his feet to hold him up nearer to my face.

"It's much warmer there, I'd say. And you'd have company." I pursed my lips as he seemed to think about it, putting a webbed hand under his bill.

I wouldn't know honestly, I'd never been in his suitcase but I was imagining that it'd have all the needed necessities to feed and water all his creatures and house them in their most well-suited habitats. Despite Nifflers originating in Britain, I always felt like they'd enjoy the warmth more so than a wet cold. I know I did.

He nodded finally, holding onto my thumb as I stood again and went to allow him passage into the suitcase. Mr Scamander opened it and held it up to the Niffler. I felt a little squeeze on my thumb until he let go and jumped from my hand into the case. Mr Scamander shut it rather quickly, seemingly worried that he'd slip back out in the last second.

"...I think that was the easiest time I've ever had with that little guy and this suitcase." Mr Scamander announced. He sounded surprised yet also a touch impressed in his announcement, both of which made me almost preen. I'd always loved praise, a bookworm and student at heart, this felt a little like it.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Oh my goodness, I didn't realise this story was so interesting. Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favourites!_**

 ** _D.D : Thanks! It get a little scary (I guess?) below but we'll all be on track again soon!_**

 ** _.2016 : Updated! c: _**

**_Addicted2memories : Sorry this too so long! My semester started recently but I think that might actually be a thing. Good idea!_**

 ** _szynka2496: I'm glad you love their interactions! _**

* * *

"Mr Scamander...I-I don't quite see them. I think we ought to go back." I shivered, trying to conjure up some kind of clothes warming charm with whispering things like _calorem amet_ or _fevore_. I'd need to work on this when we got back to a less harsh...environment. If you can even call this that. We were past the greener areas of the Alps, the nicer places that were only a wee bit chilly. Not snowed in like this hell hole.

"Quite right. Probably down farther to the green areas." Mr Scamander called back through the snow. It was probably only raining a little below us but at this ridiculous altitude, it was a bloody blizzard. I'd found that a headache had settled in rather early this morning but the lightheadedness had truly only begun when we got to the heavily snowed in area here. Possibly an altitude issue.

"Can we go there then?" I cupped my hands around my mouth as I tried to keep up with the fair man. His paleness was reflecting back at in just how hard it was to see what was his face and what was the snow.

"We are!" He yelled back, closer sounding than I'd originally thought him to be.

"Mr Scamander?" I tried to peer through the snow to see where he I shuffled forwards, somehow I found myself knocking into what seemed to be a squirming white blanket that booped my nose. Hands wrapped themselves around my fleece covered biceps to steady their owner while I righted myself a little as well. I locked eyes quickly with him and watched as his quickly darted away, nodding to me.

"Right. Off we pop." He nodded, clearing his throat rather loudly. I could hear him over the wind howling which was a touch hard to do at this point.

He started down the mountain as I followed hesitantly, I was just trying to keep his little brown case in my line of sight. It was difficult to do anything else right now. It took us maybe a total of an hour to get off the mountain. I could only tell because by the time we got to the green, the sun was setting as it had been in a slow progression towards the horizon. I wanted to reach out and to grab a bit of his sleeve but felt it would be too forwards.

It didn't end badly, however. Instead I simply stumbled over unseen stones and the usual decaying mountain debris. At least I didn't concuss myself, right? I mean my toes may be split at this point but I was lucid. Lucid enough to know I was quite tired. I blinked and found myself walking into the soggy fabric back of my companion.

"Mr Scamander?" I questioned the man warily as I took a step back only to see him crouch down with his hands spread out in almost a bird-like fashion, with each finger a claw. It looked almost protective but a second glance told me he was merely trying to not startle the Graphorn that stood proudly in front of us.

It looked to be male gauging by the elongated horns atop its head. I had always figured that was due to his duty of protecting whatever young he may have. The animal kingdom usually did as such, no one was ever truly left defenseless unless it was the doing of wizarding-kind and humans.

"Now, I'm going to reach out to it. I want you to stay here, Miss Maximae." Scamander warned, as he shuffled quietly towards the beast. Taking a step then letting it appraise him before he took another. I watched with fascination as he took a short step then gauged the situation all over again. He had a notebook in his hands, carefully cradled to his side as he stalked slowly towards the creature.

In an odd sense of morbid fascination, I watched him sit down ever so slowly in front of the curious Graphorn as I pulled the hood off my head. I slowly sat down as well, trying to move as slowly as I could in order to not some how end up killing Mr Scamander by startling the great male. I focused on the grass strands in front of me, pulling at them while I thought on this.

Being the cause of his injuries might put a bit of a damper on this whole student teacher relationship thing. Of course I could possibly get him healed enough to go to a real medical professional if something did happen. I've always had a penchant for the healing spells, having done a bit of an internship in St Mungos in London. Of course that _was_ thanks to my parents working in such a place as healer-

I froze as I felt moist warm breath push itself down my wispy blonde hair and into my scalp. This was probably not good. I blinked, thinking of turning slightly to take a look at whatever had decided to investigate my hair. I felt gentle tendrils slide their way into slips of my hair and tried my best not to either yank my head away or to shiver. By the look of slight panic on Scamander's face, I had to assume that it was the Graphorn who found my hair so absolutely fascinating.

"Um." I mumbled to myself as the thin tentacles streamed from my hair around to my face. Okay, now this is just uncomfortable. Scamander seemed to have gotten over his bit of panic and had begun running his little pencil over his sketch book's pages. At least they weren't wet? The texture reminded me slightly of a dog's nose if it were dry...if a dog could possibly just trample me to death. I could see Scamander's mouth move but heard nothing as I furrowed my brows.

"Just hold there for a moment longer." Scamander whispers finally made their way into my ears as I pursed my lips, simply hoping to not have this creature get _too_ curious about that.

I slowly raised a hand from my lap, I was starting to feel a touch like a particularly slow snail. The Graphorn didn't seem to strike me where I sat as I moved to pull a purplish tendril away from my eyes with the touch of a mother trying to hold her newborn for the first time. If this creature hadn't trampled me by now, I was starting to wonder if maybe it wouldn't at all.

I thought to actually face it until I heard some sort of yelling in the distance. I tried to look with just moving my eyes but they were set behind the Graphorn and I. Mr Scamander could probably see them though. I watched the young man's expression turn panicked looking with a choking feeling of anxiety cropping up in my stomach. Was it a muggle?

"There he is!" A male voice yelled across the quiet dark the three of us had been situated in up till this point. My mind immediately jumped to figure out this accent, it wasn't English and it wasn't Swiss...so where was it from? I've heard it once before. Possibly. I stood slowly, trying to not panic the Graphorn into thinking I was the aggressor here.

"Incarcerous." My ears heard the spell as it was uttered before I actually got all my gerbils moving in one direction to gracefully jump out of the firing range of the Wizard or the creature.

Instead of this graceful jump that was planned...I just sort of catapulted myself away enough to only smack into the ground rather hard. I felt my breath knocked out of my capacities as I watched magic ropes wrap themselves around the Graphorn and the ground to keep it in place. The Graphorn bucked, howling angrily now as it tried to cut through the ropes just as easily as they reformed themselves around his figure.

I raised my wand, trying to think of spells to eliminate such a magical item. Each strand had to be completely destroyed at one time, if not they simply continued to regrow. Confrigo? No. Too explosive, might hurt the Graphorn. Bombarda. No, too destructive _again,_ Ara. Why could I only think of the explosive spells? Scamander fired off a single spell at them, they merely whipped it away with the spell visually bouncing off of them.

"Flipendo!" I fired the first sort of defensive thing I could think of to stop what seemed to be the leader of a 3 manned group, carrying weapons and netting. The jinx hit the first two men with some great force, knocking them back with a great bit of strength, but it'd missed the third. Perfect. Now he's mad as well. I spared a glance towards the beast and found with mild relief Scamander had already begun trying to get

"Petrificus Totalus!" He yelled back at me, moving his wand sharply as he moved out of the way of my knocking-back jinx.

I waved my wand as quickly as I could, trying to deflect it. I stumbled, attempting to stand up fully, when he fired another at me, this time with no words. I tried to wave my wand again, trying to not flick the spell off in Scamander or the Creature's direction. I was touch too slow and felt the cutting sensation of an angry spell bite deeply into my sider, shoulder, and neck.

"IMMOBULUS!" I practically screamed the spell at 3rd man still standing as my wand moved to outline two mountain peaks. His body froze quickly with his face still in the motions of contorting into an odd mix of anger and surprise.

"Miss Maximae?" Scamander's voice sounded rather far away from me as I spun in his direction, my wand at the ready for any sort of threats.

"You've got to just call me, Ara." I retorted breathlessly, holding a hand up to stop his probable disagreement before it began. I felt the ground quake slightly, and looked over my bloody shoulder to see the Graphorn gaining speed as he ran.

"...Okay?" I spun my head back as a hand lightly gripped my forearm and felt the world tumble around me in a daze.

"What was that?" I whispered, trying to recall if I'd heard what he just asked me. I watched his mouth open with muted curiousity, waiting until I could actually hear him with shaky legs. The thought struck me that, I couldn't hear my own breathing. Am I dead? My legs fell slack first leading all the way up until the world blackened around me.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Hi everyone!**_

 _ **This might be a little confusing down below so I'll just go ahead and let you know that she's essentially having fever dreams about bits and pieces of her past. That means it'll just flow into the next dream, a lot like people's dreams usually just keep coming with no rhyme or reason behind the transitions.**_

 _ **Thank you all for the reviews and favourites and follows. This chapter is actually a little longer because of it!**_

 _ **Dragondancer: Super drama bomb! Though if they do get together, that'll probably be the bigger one.**_

 _ **TheWonderfulShoe: Thats probably the whole reasoning behind this chapter, so good job on picking up on that!**_

 _ **bluefrost15/inperfection: I'm glad you guys are excited for this chapter! I think it gives her more of a background.**_

* * *

"Mum?" I raced up the stairs of our cottage in Ballycastle, the faintest sound of waves crashing reached my ears as I ran up past an open window. I loved the sound of the sea outside our home. It rocked me to sleep every night.

"In here, darling." I bounced into their room, taking in her posture with curiosity. She'd been dressed for a while obviously, but had dark circles under her eyes. Seemed like she hadn't slept at all last night.

"Whats wrong?" I peered at her, coming closer to sit down on the edge of their bed. She shook her head, smiling tiredly at me.

"Nothing at all. I'm just going to miss you." She came around to where I sat, wrapping a soft hand around my jaw line.

"You've hit eleven so fast." She sighed with some melancholy. My mother's blue eyes looked teary in the sunlight, making me frown a tad.

"Come now, Addie. You'll all be cryin' before we even get to London." My da's voice broke me out of the trance I felt I'd been in, I looked over her shoulder, trying to see through the dirty blonde hair.

"Leave me be, Malus. My baby is off to her first year in Hogwarts." She defended with a bit of might as she looked back at my father. He stood tall enough with a serious looking face. It was only when he'd smile that you could see the warmth through the paleness and freckles. He ran a hand through his hair, it wasn't light like ours. His glinted back at you with the dark sheen that seemed to be forever done up in a half up style.

"Right right." He nodded, taking a few easy-going steps towards us. "Who knows when she'll wake up though." He sighed, looking back at me.

"I'm not asleep." I stared, bewildered at him.

"You are, cricket." He peered back at me, with a look that screamed 'how do you not understand this'. His nickname made me almost want to cry, confusing me even further. We were _just_ on our way to Hogwarts. I'm not asleep for goodness sakes!

My head spun back to look up at my mother with incredulousness, "Mum. Tell him I'm not asleep."

"Darling, it's just a simple cut." She merely shook her head back at me, with a tsk. "If you don't sleep, it'll hurt more." She reminded me though now her hair turned an even sandier shade of blonde than the pale I was accustomed too.

" _What?_ " I furrowed my brows with complete bewilderment as I watched her lean forwards with her wand posed. Following her eyes, I found she was looking towards several gashes in my shoulder and neck.

I blinked, panic building as I tried to look back at my father. He was gone, making me look back around to see if my mother was still here. Neither were here anymore, I looked down at my hands to see them a touch burned from a bubbling cauldron.

"I'm sorry to have pulled you out of your potions class, Miss Maximae." The oaky voice of my headmaster Phineas Maqourt, did not echo in his oval office despite how empty it looked to be in here. Each item had it's own place, a drawer, cabinet, and clip for everything.

With all due respect, where are my mother and father, sirs? I was told this was a family matter." I pursed my lips together, the worry building in my stomach as my eyes took in the muted atmosphere. My hands gripped my blue and black sweater, nerves were getting' to me. Professor Dumbledore stood silently by the door, having escorted me from my N.E.W.T Potions course just a few minutes earlier.

They looked at each other for only a second. It only took a second for me to drown out any idea I'd had that it would be fine. That they were just running late. Something had happened in St Mungo's.

"There...was an accident in your parent's work earlier this morning." Maqourt seemed unsure as to how to go on now.

"A particularly nasty case of a improperly preformed imperious curse on a particular patient. It seemed to have led to him not only...killing your father but to also end your mother's life." Professor Dumbledore surmised with some amount of pity.

Their words fell on deaf ears as I turned and walked past his place near the door, hoping to simply pretend this didn't happen. That they would still be there to get me at the trainstation in a week. Who did I have now? Empty words with friends that would just as quickly pat me on the back as they would shove me under them for an advancement.

I heard shuffling as I paced down what I'd thought to be an empty passageway and paused. Turning my head to the side, I found the strange boy I'd heard had been expelled a few years ago and watched him as he rearranged his position on the stone bench and continued to rustle his robe. I watched, oddly fascinated as he pulled out what looked to be a little shiny egg.

"A-are...are you okay?" I looked away from the egg to find that he'd noticed me standing there, staring.

"I don't really know." I smiled warily as I stuck my hand out to greet this sandy haired boy. "Ara." I introduced myself.

"Newt." He responded just as quiet as before. Strangely, I felt fascinated even more by knowing this boy's name. It's something to focus on outside of being alone.

"Did you know you're asleep?" His head tilted, as he held out the silvery egg to me. He suddenly looked a lot older than what I'd first thought, confusing me a bit. He'd seemed to age to about 25, thats incredibly odd.

"I'm not. I just wish I were." I looked down at the egg and sighed, this had just been a draining day.

"No. Really." His insistence threw me as my eyes scanned up his mussed up shirt and tie, sporting the gold and black colours of Hufflepuff.

"I'm not." I pursed my lips, getting angry now.

"It's time to wake up, Ara." He spoke gently as I furrowed my brows at him. What was his problem?

"I don't want too." I retorted grumpily. Turning, I found myself staring back at a much more masculine looking Ara. A long dark beard with scarring on my face and close cut black hair, the glamours had done absolute wonders. Raindrops splattered across my handheld mirror, forcing me to look up at the smoky sky.

Sandbags blocked some of my vision, along with a camouflaged netting above us. An attempt at obscuring any incoming strangers with a touch of curiousity at what was nearby. I think there used to be a lot of trees around here...but. The artillery shells since this god forsaken war started had grounded them into mud, rubble, and ashes.

This passchendaele had been beautiful at some point, it'd had to have been, right? Whistles and loud bangs accompanied the thought, bringing me back to reality. This was the price of me thinking it'd help. Nothing would help me now. I did this to myself, I wasn't even supposed to be out here.

"Move, Maximat!" An officer yelled my cover name at me as I took into account just how close the whistling was getting to be. This was probably not my best idea ever.

"She's gonna be a daisy-cutter. How much you wanna bet?" Williams grinned across from me, crouched up against a wall of stones in our trenchline. I pressed my chin down further to obscure the wand I'd hidden inside my itchy jacket while my throat was close enough to be touched.

"I hope not, mate. Dunno how much more we can take." I responded resolutely, a deep voice charmed to obscure my own slightly higher and feminine voice.

"Right you are." He nodded, peering up over the dirt mound that sat behind me. I watched his face turn from patience to panic, his mouth was only able to open a pinch before the blow's force smacked into my back. I hit the stone with tremendous force, bouncing my head against it.

"Shit!" I cussed as I moved trying to get away from the sharp sensations prickling into my shoulder, ribs, and neck. I panicked now, struggling to get up with my wand out of my pants loop. A small creature made a noise of panic before I felt it scurrying over my leg. I pointed my wand fearfully at the man that stood before me.

"Ara? You're okay. Theres nothing thats going to hurt you here." A blonde man held his hands up to my stance and wand. I blinked quickly as I took into account how much this little area and this man in front of me _wasn't_ like the trench in Belgium or Williams.

"Wh-...What? Where am I?" I whispered to myself, looking around at this warm shop of sorts with confusion. It was messy in a well-lived in way with papers stacked haphazardly in the center of a desk. Labeled vials with wet and dry ingredients sat crowded in dark shelves and a few plants spread out amongst them, each enclosed in glass.

"You were hurt. I attended to your wounds, its 1921 and we're in Switzerland." This soft spoken man continued, drawing my attention further away from this warm area surrounding me. This was when I took him in fully, noting the freckled dusted skin, and dirty blonde hair. He looked like an older Newt Scamander...Mr scamander.

"Sorry." I murmured uncomfortably, as I slid my wand back into it's holster on my hip. Well this is a little awkward. Now you _definitely_ seem like you're crazy, Ara. Great job.

"It's fine." He shook his head, slowly coming closer with short and soft steps. A soft touch to my pants had me glancing down rather quickly as I tried to keep Scamander in the corner of my eye. The little Niffler sat below me, looking up with an almost wondering stare that greeted me with soft waves of concern. It was a little off putting to me, realizing the amount of emotion this creature could communicate with his eyes.

"He insisted on staying near you as I tried to patch up your wounds." Scamander's voice was soft still, as though he were trying to not startle a wounded animal. I watched the creature nod resolutely to his care taker's words with a bit of amusement.

"I got him to stay back under the illusion his fur might get into them though, and cause a fever...Of course even that didn't last very long." He continued, leaving me a space to reply, to show I was still lucid enough to contribute to this conversation.

"Why not?" I raised a brow, looking back towards my mentor with curiosity.

"He elected to bathe." Scamander concluded with a warm smile. I nodded slowly, leaning down to the Niffler's level.

"Did you enjoy the bath?" I asked him, trying to keep out any sign that I'd been sleeping from my voice by clearing my throat after.

The Niffler shrugged moving to climb up my pant's legs to find his way somewhere. I instead put my hand down, with my palm facing up for him to sit in so I could place him wherever he'd liked. He seemed to motion towards my shoulder and so I sat him there, taking a second to notice that this was not the shirt I'd had on when we left the boarding house.

"Mr Scamander..."I started, wondering if perhaps I was mistaken. I didn't want to infringe on his virtues or anything similar, it'd leave an awful taste in my mouth if I did so.

"Yes?" He answered my call rather quickly, seemingly waiting for when I would ask.

"Did you change my shirt?" I looked away from the material, back up to him as he nodded.

"I did. I had too in order to fully tend to your cuts because of how deep they were and you were having a bad reaction to the magic. I promise it wasn't anything perverted! You kept waking up and talking to me, I kept telling you that you were asleep and you always said 'No, I'm not.' which is a double negative by the way." He began to speak quickly now, holding his hands up in surrender as I stood slowly.

He took in one deep breath, seeming to have realised he'd spoken a little too quickly. "Truly, my intentions were simply to be able to heal you before your fever turned for the worst."

I stood there quietly for a second, watching his cheeks turn ever so slightly pink and decided to have just a bit of a laugh with him. "Did you like my knickers?" I raised a brow, looking serious.

"I...I didn't notice them." He sputtered, his ears and cheeks turning a bright pink with every second ticking by.

"I'm just having a go at you." I intoned with a small grin, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little after my freak out.


	6. Chapter 6

_**This was longer than expected but I had a point in mind that I wanted to stop at and I finally found it.**_

 _ **DragonDancer : I'm glad the confusion cleared up! Hope you enjoy this one as much **_

_**Inperfection : Niffler might develop a slight attitude but I have a feeling he'll be around quite a bit. I love playing with his reactions and all! **_

_**Love,Fiction,2016 : I'm happy you're liking this x) **_

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"Right. Of course." He let out an odd giggle, looking away from my face again towards the ground. I followed his gaze to the floor and tried to remember not to be so teasing with him, he seemed to be a tad awkward when it came to humans and our little ticks. A ding sounded off the wall behind him, drawing both of our attentions.

"Feeding time." He called out rather loudly, moving towards the cupboards I'd just now noticed lied under his crowded desk.

I looked back toward the chart that the sound seemed to have come from and realised it was a timed chart for all the creatures he kept here. I moved towards it slowly, taking in all the little names and spotted _Unicorn, Yeti, werewolf_ among the name slips of paper he'd stuck to the board. A wheel in the center was stuck on _Mooncalf_ and _Thunderbird_? He has a thunderbird?

"You have a thunderbird?" I raised a brow, looking back at him with a touch of amazement. It was a rarity to say the least. I heard a humph from my shoulder and craned my neck slightly to see the Niffler looking highly unimpressed with my awe.

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure he won't let me near it after I pulled my wand on him." I smiled softly in a bit of bitterness at the creature. He shrugged but had at least uncrossed his little arms. Possibly a good sign.

"Most definitely not. But, I do need you to feed the Mooncalves." I looked back as a bag was dropped into my hands, it seemed to be their pellets.

"Shall I just point myself in that direction then?" I nodded at him as he turned away from me to continue to prepare a hunk of meat...on the place I'd just been laying. Unsanitary but okay. We're not holding that against him, are we now, Ara?

"They like the dark so-" He started as I pushed my way into his sentence with some speed.

"-So just look for the biome thats full of grass and a full moon." I finished feeling a touch proud as I watched him give the smallest of smiles at the meat. I'll probably never grow out of the need to display my knowledge, honestly.

"Indeed, Miss Maximae." He nodded to my statement. I shifted the pellets in my arms to sit closer to my hip as I started towards what I assumed to be the exit of his little shed. I took notice of the tropical gear and collection jars stacked up in a corner as I left. He'd been to other places as well then, warmer places. That might be nice at some point.

It actually took me a bit to find their home, soft moonlight and grassy hills blended in with the darker worlds he'd created down here. I think I'd wandered into an aquatic one at first, until the Niffler pointed me towards the Mooncalves. At first the little beasts were hesitant of me, a strange new comer in their home was something many of them seemed to be leery of.

It was really only until I pulled over the canvas sack and unbuttoned it's lid to reveal little pellets, that they began to come closer to me. I took out a handful and began spreading in crescent shapes around me. It seemed the elders of the group came forewards first, particularly skittish females scooped up a bit in their mouths before scuttling back towards their young and dumping it out for them.

I sat down to their level slowly but surely, trying to not jostle any of my freshly healed wounds as I did so. The sack was right next to me as I continued to dump out little handfuls of their pellets into the little I'd created at the bottom of my shirt.

The pasture was peaceful and serene for me to relax a little in. The tall grass had been pushed over and made soft feeling with the numerous Mooncalves running over it constantly, it tickled my skin pleasantly. The sound of the creatures happily munching away, the young chatting up their elders in a language that was unique to them.

"You alright?" Mr Scamander's voice disturbed the serenity of the moon and grass but left me with a soft and innocent question to answer. I shrugged at first.

I looked to my left, past the Niffler that sat on my shoulder to make eye contact with the man. "I'd say so." Looking back towards the soft furred creatures, huddled together, I let a smile crop up. "Haven't set it on fire just yet." I let out a little giggle at that.

A wheezing laugh sounded softly from my left, leading me to notice the Niffler who seemed to actually be laughing at my joke. I smiled at him softly while he eventually calmed himself back down and settled. Scamander seemed to have found it funny as well, giving the ground a small smile when I looked back at him.

"Off we pop then." Mr Scamander declared after a second of silence, moving to take the pellets as I stood shakily. I followed him back out of the dark enclosure towards his shed, it wasn't that large, one story for his workspace and the second seemed to be his entrance into this little world of his. I watched him sit the bag onto the floor as I stood in the doorway. Movement on my shoulder signaled the Niffler was possibly getting more comfortable on me.

I waited patiently and quietly, trying to not set off any sort of bells in his mind more so than I had already. He seemed quite happy with it, nodding to himself after tying the bag shut and standing to his full height again. My eyes strayed for a second, back to where I'd woken up and saw the pile of clothes that I'd been wearing at one point. Shirt, pants, jacket...purse? Where is my purse?

"Where did my purse go, Mr Scamander?" My voiced picked up a tad from the slight panic. I was trying to not jostle the creature on my shoulder in my panic like I'd already done.

"Hm?" He looked back at me, looking confused as to why I'd be asking him. I had a lot of things in that purse that meant a lot to me, sentimental things. This was not a comforting response.

"T-the little bag I took this morning or whenever we left the room, I don't recall when. I mean I can't really tell time here and my watch was _in_ the bag so, you kno-" I rambled

"Oh! I almost forgot, here you are." He watched me in a panicked rumble and jumble and cut me off before I got too bad to take the little thing out of his pants pocket. His hand was extended softly towards me, the bag outstretched in his fingers.

"Thank you." I quietly reached forwards and grabbed it, our fingers just barely touched as I did so. It sent a string of electric magic up my arm. "I didn't mean to be so...harsh about it. It just holds pretty much all of my happy memories." I apologized softly, looking down at the little purple fabric in my hands.

"It's understandable." He shrugged, turning back towards the bag he'd been attempting to tie off. I guessed this was his response to awkwardly emotional moments with girls who just tried to hex him into oblivion. It was fair? Right? Right. So why I did I feel alienated?

"What are these for?" I sparked conversation, motioning to the tropical gear I already had an inkling about. It grabbed his attention nonetheless, making him turn back around to glance at what I was pointing at.

"Possibly our next trip. After we get the Graphorn to safety of course, I plan on researching occamies." He responded, coming closer to me and the bags and hats. "They're quite fascinating creatures that anyone knows barely anything about." He continued, seemingly inspired by his search to learn more about the creature.

"Outside of their eggs being made of pure silver?" I raised a brow, watching his expression morph.

"Right, yes. Outside of that." Mr Scamander nodded resolutely. I nodded in response, going quiet. The silence reigned on for a good few minutes before he began to pick invisible specks of dust or hair off of his vest and pants. I glanced at him maybe every few seconds, scanning the room in between.

"Well then, I uh...I should be up for only a little while more but you...you should probably get some rest." Mr Scamander declared, forcing me to look back at him with his hands stuff into his pockets.

Before I could respond I felt a slight tug on my ear and turned to find the Niffler motioning towards the ground. I nodded at him and scooped my hands together near him for a little help to get him on the ground safely. He seemed to enjoy it, giving my thumb a quick squeeze before he jumped and scuttled off towards the desk.

I walked towards the little ladder leading to the upstairs and assumedly the room we'd rented for a little while. I was past Mr Scamander when he put a hand softly around my elbow, effectively stopping me.

"I suppose I should explain. We're currently still on the mountain, hopefully anyways and with you injuries I was thinking you and I would sleep here for the night, Miss Maximae." He spoke with some urgency in his eyes, making me wonder just how awful I'd been hit for him to be worried about a little walk.

"Uhm. Okay." I responded awkwardly, nodding again to his explanation. He seemed satisfied with it because he immediately let go of my arm and waved some dusty blankets over to the floor, they folded themselves neatly into a sleeping bag of sorts.

I took two steps forwards and found myself at the foot of it, not entirely sure if I should just sleep in these clothes or look for more comfortable ones. Or if I even wanted to find more comfortable ones...these reminded me of my days in the Trench, dirty black and brown blankets filled with bedbugs.

"Where are you sleeping then?" I looked up from the blankets as I felt him shimmy past me, trying to not touch me but still having to. There was little space in his shack, so a little rubbing of the elbows was going to happen whether we liked it or not.

"Possibly on my desk or on the table." He replied chalantly as he stopped in the doorway, looking around for something I'm sure.

"Why not just sleep on the floor with me? Theres more than enough space and...you've put raw meat up there. Not exactly hygienic." I commented warily, feeling my lip curl up from disgust at the thought.

"Well. Uh." His head spun back rather quickly, as though my comment had taken him aback. "I suppose that would be fine." He cleared his throat, looking forwards again.

"Have a pleasant night." His voice was almost robotic sounding as he walked off quickly in a random direction. I found myself disturbingly upset by him walking off but pushed it away, ignoring it and set about finding something to change into.

I looked to my right and found the Niffler looking back at me, like he was simply waiting for me to finally lay down so he could too. "Was that odd to you?" I asked him, not entirely sure as to what I expected as an answer. He shrugged at me, making some deeper noises that I could only interpret as 'don't take it personally, hes just being himself'.

"Fair enough." I replied, digging through my bag again. I wasn't sure if I was having a genuine conversation with him or if I'd just felt like that to make myself feel better and he was just being a Niffler.

I had finally changed and went to lay down when I'd found that the Niffler had apparently found himself a comfortable spot near the pillow I'd grabbed out of my bag. I deadpanned with a wave of my fingers for him to move, he seemed to have gotten the memo and grumpily shuffled over so I could lay down. I think I might actually miss the rickety beds from the boarding house.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hi all! So a few things to note.**_

 _ **1.) Thank you all so much for the hopeful reviews, follows, and favourites!**_

 _ **2.) I have begun to try my hand at writing a novel of my own on Inkitt (we'll see how this goes, eh?)**_

 ** _3.) I am in uni and I'm approaching my junior year which means I'll be incredibly slow to update._**

 _4.) Do YOU have a suggestion for the Niffler's name?_

 ** _D.D:_** _I'm glad you like it so far! I'm honestly not sure where I'm going with this anyways._

 ** _TheWonderfulShoe:_** _The werewolves and unicorns and Yeti's was taken from the little wheel prop from the movie but I think I'll expand on that later with my own ideas. As for her past, that'll be expanded on as well in the coming chapters! c:_

* * *

I awoke to the feeling of something warm laying on my right hip with my left laid on the floor itself. I blinked a few times, trying to understand what the noise was and found it to be a mixture between the Niffler and possibly the owner of the arm that hung down in front of my face. It was covered in soft looking blonde hairs, a tanned skin, and a few freckles.

I followed the limb back up to it's owner to take in the wide open mouth and dribble slowly falling from the corner of his mouth with a bit of amusement. He drooled in his sleep. I watched him sleep for a moment longer, interested in his even expression and deep breathing and felt a sense of peace radiating from him. Interesting.

My stomach growled as I rolled over onto my back slowly, with the Niffler finding his place on my stomach again. I figured it was time to stop staring at him so creepily anyways. Might be a good plan, huh, Ara?

I sat up slowly, catching the Niffler as he fell down. He eyed me with a bit of annoyance but allowed me space to get up from the floor and dirty blankets I'd been asleep on. I'd have to think up a name for the little guy at some point, it was like having a baby and just calling it "The baby" for the rest of it's life. Maybe Richard.

I grabbed my purse from it's place, and began searching for something to cook and what to cook in as I stood in the doorway of his little shack. I wasn't sure if he'd have any dietary issues so I went for a simple breakfast (was it even morning?) of eggs and ham over a fire I'd gotten contained in my little glass jar.

* * *

I'd spent about 10 minutes making it and grabbing ingredients from my bag before I felt huffs of air drift over my shoulder. Why did I continue to turn my back to the creatures in his case? I'd gotten the attention of one too many it seemed.

Attempting to be covert I ever so slowly turned my head to look to my right and saw shiny golden beak, reminding me of a hippogriff only much larger and scarier. It's the Thunderbird, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, BE _CALM_. CALM. Okay. Calm. I sucked in a breath before stopping myself from panicking and turned ever so slowly back to face the ham I'd been cooking. This is fine. I just have a beast leering over my shoulder that could shred me in half with just one of his talons. 10/10. Best plan ever, Ara.

"Ara?" A tired voice called my name from behind me, but I did not turn around. I didn't even flinch when the beak roughly nudged my nearly healed shoulder.

"Frank. She's still healing, you mustn't push her about like that." The voice tsked, coming closer to my back. It was now that I recognized it as Mr Scamander's voice. Was Frank the Thunderbird? I should have known better than to cook food next to a meat eating bird. Merlin's Beard. Where did your head _go,_ Ara?

I heard another set of huffs in my ear and swallowed hard, this may just be where I keel over out of panic. I stared forwards, trying to not move, to not startle him whatsoever. I had a feeling that Scamander would mourn more for the bird being harmed than my body being shreded to bits and pieces. I was roughly nudged again by this Frank and closed my eyes accepting my fate.

" _Frank_. I just told you, your meal is up in about an hour, young man." Scamander tsked him again as though he were talking to a son. I heard rustling before gusts of wind swept over my body leaving me with nothing but the sound of Mr Scamander's feet hitting the ground as he came closer and some scuttling.

I peeked an eye open as Mr Scamander took a plate from the ground and shoveled half of everything made so far onto it, he was casual but quiet. I tensed slightly as the Niffler climbed it's way onto my lap.

"How are you feeling, Ara?" His voice was crackly despite how clear he'd sounded not a minute ago when he was chastising Frank. I shrugged, taking note that while my skin felt tightly stretched over my frame, it didn't hurt.

He nodded in response, focusing on taking the spatula from me and cooking an egg and a few slices of ham. I pursed my lips, trying not to get grumpy over the fact that he'd taken the helm on this cooking endeavor despite having food himself. I waited quietly and patiently, only to find that he'd taken my own plate to push food onto it.

With a raised brow, I watched as he handed me the plate with robotic movements. My own eyes were trained on his but I'd found he was not quite meeting my eyes, instead he chose to look over to the side again. Just to the left of my eyes. He just decided to cook food for me.

"Thank you." I muttered it as he gave me a half nod and looked back quickly to his own food after I'd taken the plate from him gingerly. This was odd feeling. I let the plate sink down to the Niffler's height and allowed him to grab himself some food as well. He'd seemed incredibly interested in it, standing on his hind-legs with his webbed hands hanging on the edge of the plate.

"So..." I started slowly, trying to not drag Scamander into conversation so early after he'd gotten up and who know's how long he'd been awake the night before. I'd gotten his attention, I knew I had by the fact that he'd stopped eating with his eyes glancing at me every few seconds.

"I was thinking of the name ideas for this little guy, like we talked about on the train, remember?" I raised a brow, waiting for his response while I motioned to the furry creature currently eating strips of my ham.

"Mhm." He nodded slowly.

"I was thinking about possibly Richard. Or Badger..." I trailed off with my head tilted to the side, waiting on a response from either guy. I glanced down at the Niffler. He shrugged, seemingly uncaring about which one I picked so I turned my gaze to Mr Scamander entirely.

"I uh-um. I have a feeling he wouldn't care what you called him as long as you're the one that named him." Scamander shrugged, half-smiling at me before he turned back to his eggs. He seemed proud almost, like I'd done well with asking the question and getting a half-assed answer from a wizard and a Niffler.

"Well then, that was helpful, Mr Scamander." I mumbled to myself, going around the Niffler to grab some eggs that were left over.

"You can call me Newt." I didn't process what he'd said at first, not responding to him and watching for a hint at what he'd told me. It took about a second for his expression to change from a blank slate to one that was calm yet nervous which keyed my brain in somehow.

"Oh! Okay. Good, good." I replied quickly, a little embarrassed that I hadn't caught what he'd said at first and dragged it out to this awkward length of time. Just...stellar job, Ara. Stellar.

* * *

We'd gotten all dressed up again, heading towards leaving the case as soon as we'd made the rounds for specific feeding times. The Niffler insisted on hanging out inside my furry jacket and I wasn't disinclined to tell him no. Honestly, I was just hoping he'd keep me warmer than I was before.

Mr Scamander went out first, popping his head out slowly while I waited on the ladder below him to go up. He gave me a slight nod and climbed out. I waited a second before I followed him out. I was about half way out of the case and on the last step of the ladder when Mr Scamander offered me his hand to balance me slightly. I took it with a small smile, feeling quite nervous and quickly climbed out just so I wouldn't have to hold his hand much longer.

While the logical part of me told me that I wasn't _actually_ touching him, we're both wearing gloves and all...it was just the other side of me felt like my skin was on fire from the thought of it. _Merlin_ , I'm weird and kinda creepy.

I waited until he'd dusted the ice off the case that had found it's way there over the last night or two and snapped it shut to follow him. It was dawn, I think. The sun was slowly rising and it seemed we were heading back to the boarding house for a bit. I could only guess that by the way the air kept getting a little warmer and lights in the distance were closer and closer. Possibly to get a fresh head start on our search for the Graphorn tomorrow morning if we didn't try again today.


	8. Chapter 8

**Wooooo, updated faster than I thought I would. This chapter is a _little_ longer than the last. Sorry guys, but thank you for continuing to read it all and the favourites and follows! It all gives me the drive to update faster! **

* * *

I'd stared up at the ceiling for probably a good hour or two with the sounds of the Niffler humming in his sleep and Mr Scamander snoring in the bed that laid in the other side of the room. It was peaceful but I didn't feel tranquil. I felt wired for sound. Like something was about to attack me, my heart would slow but then someone would move in the room and I'd tense up like a cat on a hot roof.

My heart was pretty much just slowing and jump starting itself which was worrying by itself but I swished it under the carpet of being a little fearful. I just wasn't sure as to why I was so skittish. I'm safe. Why am I so afraid?

I rolled over in my cot, watching the faint outline of the Niffler's furry stomach rising and falling with each breath he took. He seemed fond of me. I was quite fond of him, feeling closer to protector of his. What had I done to gain his affection? I'd probably never know. Why did _anyone_ keep me around? I was a tragic case of good intentions wrapped up with mistakes and a pretty bow.

Rolling back over to stare at the ceiling with a melancholic sigh, I tried to control my breathing. My heart beat was scaring me slightly. It'd remained quite fast for the last few minutes. I need to focus on something, something else outside of my heartbeat or how burdensome I feel right now. Whats something useful? Whats something I needed earlier but couldn't create?

The heating charm! I can focus on it. Oh, this will be great!

* * *

"Aestas." I hummed pointing my wand towards a particular boot I hadn't worn in a good while. I hesitantly leaned forward in the fireplace with little worry as to how loud I was being in my movements. I had already placed a silencing charm on my area. I was nervous to wake anyone else up with my sleeplessness and the fireplace seemed the only place big enough for me to fit an item in it. A contained explosion was quite common in my experiences.

My fingers touched the leather and immediately retracted them, it was a little _too_ hot. Okay, it was really really hot and I might have burned myself a pinch. Time to try something else.

I pulled my wand on the shoe again, waving it in a short circling motion while I spoke. "Tepidious." I was calm, contained, and quiet in my charm. I waited a moment before laying the wand down again near my knees. It hadn't exploded, it wasn't smoking...all good signs. I leaned forwards to touch it quickly and retracted my finger again to look at the limb.

No blisters, thats lovely. I looked back to the shoe and leaned forwards, hesitantly touching it for a bit longer. It was warm, but not deathly so. I was slow to try and put it on but I figured the testing would have to move towards me actually _wearing_ the charmed clothes. Wouldn't want to kill Scamander after he'd put so much work into making sure I didn't keel over.

I pulled the boot over and laid down with my back on the ground and my leg up in the air as I tried to slip my foot oh so carefully into it.

"Ara? What are you doing?" Mr Scamander's voice startled me, making my entire body tense up as it fought with my mind as to what to do. I swallowed and looked away from the boot halfway on my foot to the blond haired man who stood near my head with sleepy eyes.

"What are you doing?" I retorted, not moving my leg from the air.

"I think I'm watching you put on a shoe." He surmised, running a hand through his hair and looked back down at me. "Have you slept at all?" He raised a brow as he waited for my answer.

I quickly switched to pulling the shoe on again, choosing to avoid his eyes. "Nope. Not a wink." I chirped, happy enough that my foot hadn't been burned off with this charming business.

"What? What happened to your hands and arms?" His voice seemed to pick up a chord, possibly worried I'd ruined something in the room.

"Why is there soot all over your knees?" I felt a rush of air as I glanced back up to see he'd knelt down and was currently cataloging all of the burns and blister's I'd gotten from my experiments. He picked up my hand with a touch of force to flip it around so he could see my palm and fingertips. "Goodnesss, Ara." He mumbled my name.

"I just couldn't sleep and I was really cold up there so I-I just started searching." I began to nibble on my bottom lip as his face seemed to scrunch up. "I had to run through _some_ burns, you know? I mean there weren't any explosions o-or anything else." I rambled with growing uncertainty. I wasn't sure why it'd bother him, I hadn't harmed _any_ of his things and the Niffler hadn't woken up to follow me or get in the way or anything.

I pulled my hand back roughly, sitting up now to have some sort of dignity in this bewildering situation. I never quite felt at ease with him, his face was hard to read and he so rarely spoke I couldn't read him that way either. His lips were in a thin line as he reached forwards and wiped his thumb across my forehead. I was stuck in position as he looked at the blackened pad of his thumb and tsked.

"You really are fine with getting down the dirt." His tone was light this time, throwing me off even more when he began to smile.

"I just underestimated you with how much dirt you'd get into though." Is...is he cracking a joke? I didn't want to smile in case this was just another expression of his with no meaning or if he was making fun of me. I'd gotten _quite_ enough of that in Ravenclaw in the first through the fifth years at Hogwarts.

"Yeah." I trailed off warily, letting a slip of a smile over one corner of my mouth. He stood and held out his hand to me, still smiling at the state I was in possibly. I didn't take his hand, still feeling a little electrified and _possibly_ mortified that he'd found it funny.

"I'll..um. I'll be back. I ought to go wash up." I supplied awkwardly as he turned and went about getting dressed. I'd have to go shower off in the bathroom downstairs most likely. Hopefully, the big muggle guy wouldn't be in there this time. I didn't mind communal washrooms but it was a little off-putting to have a man I didn't know showering at the same time as I was.

He looked back over his shoulder as he pulled off his nightshirt and nodded at me. "Try not to have anymore injuries." He tossed the shirt lightly to the side as I found myself taking in his shoulders with curiosity. His eyes met mine again after a moment of silence on my part and I found a slightly pink tinge to his cheeks.

Okay, Ara!

Stop staring, you're making it worse now.

I'd seen naked men before but it was in a time of war and I didn't particularly focus on the details of their bodies. People were taken out so quickly that I hadn't even really remembered their faces. Now it was a little different. Now I seemed to have earned the attention and curiosity of one man I'd sought out myself for a good long while and I wasn't entirely sure as to why outside of I was a great big mess.

I walked to the washroom with nothing more than my nightgown and a single boot that I'd forgotten to take off in my hurry to leave the room. No towels no, of course not. That would be too logical. I could go back up to the room...nope. Too awkward. Okay so just wash up, and slip everything back on until you can get dressed properly.

* * *

Once I got out of my little stall and all that, I straight up _ran_ to the room. I came rumbling into the room, scaring both the Niffler and Mr Scamander who both jumped at my arrival.

"Sorry." I breathed, giving a short wave to both of them as I held the still warmed shoe under my arm with my back pressed to the wooden door. He raised a brow but said nothing else as he snapped his case shut.

"I'll see you downstairs whenever you're ready but...um." He walked closer to me, holding both his suit case and a jar filled with something white and filmy looking. "I though this might help with your blisters." He held up the jar to me, with his eyes darting from mine to my soaking wet hair and finally deciding to look to the side of my head.

"Thanks!" I chirped, taking the jar quickly and moving towards the center of the room so he could leave. He gave me a nod and hurried out the door, shutting it smoothly behind himself. I looked at the Niffler and sighed as he scuttled closer, choosing to sit at the end of the bed with his legs hanging.

"You know it's improper to watch a lady undress, don't you?" I raised a brow, watching as he seemed shocked for a second and sort of squeaked back at me as though he was offended I'd have to tell him that.

"Well it is." I raised a brow as he seemed to huff after staring at me for a good minute and crossed his arms. We stared for a few more seconds before he apparently gave into my request and turned to face the wall, irately grunting at me as he went.

"Thank you." I called as I moved to dry off my hair near a low fire. I got a single click in return which I equated to a grumpy 'you're welcome'.

I was able to dry out my hair and plait it against the back of my head in about 30 minutes, I got dressed in five after I'd cast a the Tepidious charm over my under clothes. Surely that would keep me warm enough, right? Of course. I was heading towards the door but was waiting on the Niffler to start talking to me again.

"Come on, we've got to get going." I begged, as he seemed to just nicker and huff at me. Still annoyed I'd think he could be a peeping tom, possibly.

"Hey, hey. I have an idea." I snapped my fingers, thinking of something to get his mind off of what just happened. He looked over his shoulder at me for a second, seemingly curious about this idea I had. I took it as a sign to go on.

"So I was thinking about a name for you. Seems a bit unfair to just call you that little bugger, right?" I implored him to respond by leaving a pause. He nodded quickly, turning to face me now. Good. That meant he was interested.

"So what do you think about Ladro? Or Aurelius?" I raised a brow as he seemed to think. "Take all the time you need to think, but shall we go now?" I motioned towards the door as he seemed to ponder it even more, going so far as to put a webbed hand under his bill. He nodded at my motions and waited until I gave him an open palm to jump into, I hissed a little as he grabbed a blister.

He quickly let go, letting off some apologetic nickering as I waved him off. "Don't worry about it." I smiled, opening and locking the door behind me as I set about finding Mr Scamander. I had to assume that the Niffler was meant to go into my coat because I didn't think he'd want to stay inside my bag and he seemed uninterested in the suitcase.

"Right on time." Mr Scamander smiled faintly at me as he stood from a chair in the waiting area downstairs.

"Sorry, the little guy and I got into a bit of a tiff." I shrugged, feeling kind of bad for taking so long but at least I'd be warm this time.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Pretty sure this is the longest chapter to date. I was going to make it about 3,000 words but then decided not too because I'm really not sure as to where I want to take this little situation just yet!**_

 _ **If you have any ideas on what you'd want to see, let me know!**_

 _ **Thank you all so so so much for the reviews and encouragement, I do read through all of them and they all make me smile c:**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Alright, so the warmth thing wasn't an understatement. I kept getting warmer and warmer and warmer, _too_ warm one might say. I think the charm required a bit more work but my hands kept hurting from the last time I'd worked on it.

I'd already gotten scolded by Mr Scamander for forgetting to use his little salve thing and while I was sorely sorry, the blisters still made my hands throb in the cold wind which was distracting...All in all I wasn't having a good time but I was spending most of it chatting with the Niffler inside my jacket.

We hadn't found much yesterday after we'd come out of Scamander's suitcase. Only the creature's tracks and the prints of another more human-like consistency, probably the wizards we'd seen the other day. We'd tracked the Graphorn up to a lake and had to assume this was a watering hole for most of the wildlife around here and that he'd hopefully return. A struggle in my jacket forced my attention to the little guy inside it as he seemed try and find a more comfortable position.

"I told you, you should have stayed in his case." I tsked as I unzipped the coat a little, to bring him out of it. He gave me an annoyed click, seeming to huff at my lecturing. I held back a hiss as he scrambled onto my hand, little pointy feet dug into my wounds but I knew he didn't mean to do it. I hummed to myself and elected to slip him inside my breast pocket, he would be warm but he'd be able to see out of it.

A cold breeze bounced off the water as deer bent down to drink some, quickly skipping away after spotting us near the lake. I guessed a doe, not quite old enough to learn it's surroundings as it'd taken the little thing a second to figure out we'd been there as well.

I believe it was near dusk by the time we got any more movement. I'd laid down in the grass, my head near Mr Scamander's knees as he continued to jot down notes of whatever he fancied. I stood slowly, stretching my way out of the coat to allow it to fall past my shoulders and wondered a tad away from him towards the water behind us.

It was around a second later that I didn't hear the scratching of his quill on parchment and picked my head up from the blue mirror. Across the water stood a Graphorn but this one wasn't like the last male we'd seen. This was new Graphorn which was a little exciting, to know he wasn't the very last one for now.

Slow as could be, he rose to creep closer for a better look. I follow Scamander's lead most of the way, keeping a step or two behind him. As we got closer, my eyes quickly scanned for the differences and picked out smaller horns and a rounder frame leaving me to believe this was a female.

This was honestly quite spectacular to see, a male _and_ a female Graphorn was rare to see in the same place. Their hides, particularly the females, were quite strong in deflecting jinxes, charms, and hexes. It was so spectacular that I'd forgotten entirely about just how warm my torso and legs were to focus on this ethereal being as it simply sipped water. I think it was things like this that made the pains, cold, and poachers tolerable.

The creature picked up on us as we sat down again, Scamander with his sketching didn't appear to have perturbed her. If anything it seemed she was curious, coming closer ever so hesitantly. I couldn't see any scars or scratches to her telling me she _probably_ hadn't ran into the poachers just yet.

We sat there, watching the creature for goodness knows how long before I began to hear...crunching? I peeked down at the Niffler, sitting in my pocket and found he was asleep. Wasn't him. I glanced at Mr Scamander and found he was steadily drawing in his book so it wasn't him. Pursing my lips I focused back on the Graphorn as she gazed down at Scamander's smooth hand movements, she was still as could be.

Where is this _coming_ from?

I went to turn my head and froze, feeling a wand pressed to my back. Instincts? What instincts? I'm both deaf as a doorknob _and_ mentally handicapped. I thought about screaming, whipping around and attacking who ever decided to stick his wand at my back but...I couldn't. I was stuck.

"Up now. Nice and easy." An accented voice hummed into my ear, victorious but tense. Where was he from? He wasn't European.

Thoughts pushed through my head in waves, if I screamed, I'd scare the Graphorn. She could hurt Mr Scamander. If I went to attack my own attacker, I could hurt the Niffler _and_ Mr Scamander. I'm stuck. I'm stuck because I let my guard down. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Ara.

I heard a low growl as a hand wrapped around my newly healed shoulder, squeezing painfully. He was trying to move me but my body seemed frozen still. I was frozen despite the fact that my heart was pounding like thunder through my chest and arms. A strong gust of wind pushed through my hair, forcing little curls to tickle my face and exposed shoulders.

I looked up and watched as the Graphorn seemed to stop in the low light, picking her head up just enough to smell the wind. Immediately, she seemed to pick up on my panic, stomping and paw at the ground furiously. Maybe it wasn't my panic she'd picked up but his scent because she seemed to be huffing heavily, looking defensive. Her head swung back and forth with her eyes darting around. It was entirely possible she'd already had a run in with these poachers in particular but had escaped in the past.

I was yanked up now, he didn't seem to care about alerting anyone or anything in particular anymore. His wand was uncomfortable feeling, pushed harder into my back. I came up to my full height with his force and stood entirely still as I could. I needed a strategy.

"Woah, girl. Woooah there." I heard Mr Scamander's soothing voice as he tried to calm her. He hadn't picked up on our company just yet it seemed. Maybe that was for the best. Maybe not, this man couldn't have come alone. He wouldn't have. Not after the little dueling session we'd had a few days ago. Where were the others?

I wanted to scream out for him to notice I wasn't able to help him, that I was in trouble yet again. Mr Scamander reached slowly towards his case while trying to keep an eye on the Graphorn.

"What's he doing?" A harsh whisper brought me back to the fact that I was in a shit predicament and it wasn't just me. I had an innocent creature literally in my pocket, asleep.

"He's just trying to calm her down." My voice surprised me, it was calm and strong sounding with not a stutter or shake in it. I watched Mr Scamander pause for a second in his reach towards the case, his head tilted in our direction ever so slightly. I silently hoped he could see us but all my hopes were immediately shot down when he simply continued to grab the suitcase and popped it open, casually.

"And that?" Another furious whisper shook me, his breath was oddly wet. Little gross. I didn't answer, choosing to watch as he moved just as slowly as before with the case open in the irate Graphorn's direction.

"Fine then." The man spoke at a normal volume now, before he let out a loud whistle near my ear. It snapped Mr Scamander into action as he swung his case towards the Graphorn. I watched with fascination as the Graphorn was sucked into the case, it was gone within a blink of the eye. I had to assume it was safe because as soon as it'd clicked shut, Mr Scamander spun and began firing spells with little order or reason.

I opened my mouth to tell him to focus on what he was doing, to not just fire at random but the hand squeezing had wrapped itself over my mouth without me noticing. I was being pulled backwards and it was beginning to irritate me. I kind of hate being dragged from place to place when I had no choice in the matter.

"Ara!" His voice reached me maybe a second too late because I'd already gone for my wand, despite the incentive to not do so in my back. I'm pretty sure I felt a flash over my back before I actually felt the slimy grassy bits hit my face. It must have rained sometime today.

* * *

"We'll just have to figure out how to grab him _before_ he comes lookin' for her." A deep voice woke me out of a fog. I stretched a hand out of it's cramped position under my back and felt the familiar tingles of _Stupefy_ along with the burning sensation I'd forgotten about for a short time.

"He couldn't find us. Mikey did the invisible charm, right?" Another male voice demanded. I wasn't all that sure if I wanted to move further or attempt to get my bearings together. I felt a bit cold but it wasn't unbearable, I mean if anything I just felt groggy. Kinda Achey. Like I needed a pepper-up potion.

"Y'all know Mikey's charm work ain't all that." The first voice spoke up again, sounding oddly guilty but his voice was guttural sounding. So...what have we gotten ourselves into now, Ara?

"Gee, thanks Terry." A third voice sounded sarcastic. I peeked open an eye and found I was looking at a camp fire of sorts from a metal cage. Lovely. It looked like there was about three of them, all males and maybe in their 30s.

"Well he did it. I'll reinforce it later." The man whose face I could see spoke this time. It seemed obvious to me he was the leader, a spindly looking man with grey streaks to colour the brown of his hair. Despite how short it was cut, some pieces seemed to gather near his eyes, forcing him to constantly blow it out of the way. The other two sat close together, their backs faced me but both men had the same odd shade of a greasy black with a shaggy cut.

"Right right." One of the men whose backs faced me spoke, waving a hand at the others dismissively. I blinked a second time, hoping to clear the fog away from my brain as I watched the group. No such luck of course. I slowly brought one arm to my front, it'd begun to cramp being twisted around my frame like that.

"The buyer wants their skins, you know that. We have a deadline, no other option but to follow it." The leader spoke again, strength echoed in his voice despite the fact that he looked a tad emaciated. My only guess was he'd been the one who got whatever contract they seemed to be working towards completing. I scanned the grounds, or at least the ones I could actually see by the fire's light.

It was chaotic to say the least, but I could pick out two sleeping bags to the left with the stuffing coming out in crazy streams. It was sticking out the most around the head and feet areas. I'd supposed they were either not paid yet or they hadn't spent the cash on new camp supplies. Behind the bed area were boxes, some seemed to be half empty with others still sealed, I had to guess that was the food supply.

I was surprised, these were obviously wizards but they didn't seem all that interested in conserving space. I felt for my wand in my waistband and had it dawn on me that I was cold mainly because I had very little on. A short sleeved shirt and my breeches were torn at the knees but my boots seemed intact for the most part. My wand was gone, as was my coat. My coat...oh my god, the Niffler was in it!

Shite. Shitshitshit.

"So... any idea when the young lady might wake up, Vince?" One of the men whose back was turned drawled, I saw a bit of his head turn to look back at me and snapped my eyes shut immediately.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll get up when she feels like it." He responded knowingly. Did he already know I was up? I didn't remember seeing him spare me a glance. Was it because I moved?

"You hit her pretty good." One of them commented, a lower voice than the other. Possibly Terry from the guttural tone.

"Yeah, good enough to piss off her rat. What kinda lady keeps a _rat_ in her pocket?" His companion asked quickly, it lacked the strength signaling it was the other man whose back faced me. This 'Mikey' with poor charm work had me hanging onto every word. Where was my Niffler?

"They're Brits, Mikey. They're already a weird bunch of good-for-nothins." The leader spoke up in a dark chuckle, pushing a slight button of mine.

I wasn't a brit. I was Irish. We'd been fighting a good long while with little to show for it. Just because I wasn't in the Irish war for independence didn't mean I didn't support it by Merlin, I'd just had enough of the nightmares from the Great War. That was all there was to it.

"I'm not a Brit." I disagreed, startling the group quite a bit. I watched one of the men whose back faced me jump, it gave me a giggle but I didn't show it to these louts.

"Oh? What are ya then, Missy?" The leader drawled with a small grin as he set down whatever they'd been eating next to his foot. It looked a little like stew, murky brown liquid with items bobbing in it. I couldn't tell what exactly from my position.

"I'm bloody Irish." I deadpanned, staring at them with little interest. I was still hoping to see where they'd put the Niffler and where I was. Or if they had Scamander. I had to guess they didn't from their earlier conversation.

"Right, right. Whats your name then, Irish?" He raised a brow, standing from his spot near the fire. I'd appeared captured their leader's interests and I wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing. Perhaps I should have pretended to sleep longer.

"Wouldn't you like to know." I mused, looking away from the leader to adjust my position in my odd little cage to something more comfortable.

"Well then, sassy little thing. I s'ppse I should introduce these fine gentleman first, huh? This is Terry and his brother Mikey." He pointed to the men who'd finally turned around, both had green eyes though Mikey's seemed quite a bit more bright than his brother's. His brother Terry seemed quite tired despite the fact the he didn't appear to be all that old.

"Right." I nodded at them as they seemed to just stare on, Mikey still looked quite surprised which made me assume he'd been the one to jump.

"I'm Vincent. You are?" I looked back at the leader, meeting his dark eyes with as little panic as I could muster up.

"Araminte Maximae." I sighed, I would have stuck my hand out to greet him but the bars were a little _too_ close together for my hand or arm to fit so I just stared. Vincent gave me a slow smile as he nodded at me in some kind of greeting. I could honestly care less who they were, I just wanted three things at the moment. I wanted my wand, the Niffler, and to get the hell out of here before morning.


	10. Chapter 10

_**So let me go ahead and explain the weird sudden change I'm sure you've all spotted by now. On behalf of the request of Guest, I've included Newt's point of view, let me know if you guys think its in character or not! I didn't have a chance to do several chapters and get the hang of him or if you even want me to keep his POV going.**_

 _ **Enjoy and thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favourites!**_

* * *

"Quite the name you've got there. Must be a Brit thing, huh?" He raised a brow as he crouched down to my height. It was quite a spectacular sight for a man of his size to crouch, he'd have to be at least 2 meters tall. Not much compared to my single meter and 63 centimeters in total.

"I don't quite know what you mean." I grounded out as my eyes started to dart around for whatever I could really understand about this little campsite of theirs. My blistered hands hung loosely in my lap as I laid back against one side of the cage.

"Well, the yanks might have it too, I guess. I dunno. I just know that no one 'round Georgia's got a name like that." He surmised with some amusement. Americans. These were Americans. Bloody hell, why did it take me that long to figure that out? I'm slacking. I'm completely and utterly slacking in the intelligence department.

"Americans." I nodded to myself, not mentioning much else. Vincent seemed to smirk at me but nonetheless went back to his place near the fire. I supposed he'd felt like I'd been beaten, despite the fight I'd put up in our first little duel.

 **NEWT POV**

In hindsight, I ought to have kept a better eye on my traveling companion. I'd been trying my best to keep it professional enough between us, despite the close quarters. I hadn't jumped up and screamed for her, I kept it slow and concise. I shouldn't have. Now she's gone and I'd be hard pressed to say that I didn't somehow feel as though it was my own fault.

I'd elected to keep the graphorn safe. To keep my creatures safe and sound and she'd paid the price for them. The guilt seemed to break into my chest, heavy enough with the quiet in our room now.

"I know you're upset." I sighed, looking at the Niffler who sat on her bed. I wasn't given much of a response outside of a growling click. He'd grown rather attached and seemed quite angry with me for her disappearance.

"Look, I had limited options, okay?" I shrugged at him, gnawing on my bottom lip rather nervously. He spared nary a glance at me, still angry. "I-I thought she could keep herself safe." I sighed again.

I heard particularly nervous squeaking coming from my coat collar, where Pickett sat. He seemed rather understanding of my difficult situation, though still worried for the welfare of Miss Maximae.

"She'll be okay, Pickett. She's quite the woman, wouldn't you agree?" I attempted to not be despondent, to bring a little positivism into the situation we'd gotten into. It wasn't as though this was the first time I'd ever been in a poor predicament but...this was the first time I'd gotten someone else into one and especially not a girl like Ara. Not even Lettie.

It was possibly odd that while in Hogwarts I'd always found the Ravenclaw Araminte Maximae fascination but had spent most of my time with Lettie. She'd been more tolerating that most of her slytherin peers, an outsider if nothing else. Ara had never been an outsider, so I'd found my time with her was limited to when she'd invite me to an odd trip or meal. I don't believe Leta was ever that fond of Ara like I was, possibly because of our interaction near Headmaster Maqourt's office.

She'd been distressed from what I'd recalled, but interested in the occamy egg I'd come to hold. I'd later had to put him back from where I'd found him after Maqourt found out I'd even had him. Too much temptation, he'd said. I blinked and heard a soft noise, reminding me that I'd still had a numerous amount of creatures to take care of, one in particular seemed to be wanting my attention though.

Pickett seemed to be a little convinced by my positive attitude, giving off the pleasant quilling noise I'd been used to with the little guy. The Niffler however...He just seemed angry with me or with the situation. Whether it was truly me or the fact that his idol and caregiver of sorts had been taken, I couldn't sincerely tell.

I nibbled on my lip slightly, pondering exactly what to do. I had two options really, keep the female Graphorn safe and sound then go look for the male tomorrow morning or to go get my companion right now. I laid down electing to prioritise the safety of my creatures rather than a woman who could easily turn me into dust and pulled the scraggly blankets over my fully clothed body.

I wanted to keep all my clothes just in case I heard her coming by or if I heard a boom that told me where she was. I heard nothing after I'd blown out the candle in between our cots. Absolutely nothing whatsoever. Usually I'd been comforted by this but...I found this silence rather stifling but empty at the same time.

There was no sound of her sighing and rolling over or any chatter at midnight. It was probably about 1 AM when I'd had enough of the silence and threw off my covers. I could set up some sort of feeding system for my creatures in case I was gone any longer than a day but I couldn't sleep with this silence. I couldn't rest peacefully knowing Ara wasn't near me.

It struck me that this thought of needing her in the room, to hear her rolling over in bed nonstop, was rather odd as I went about setting up a locomotor spell when the feeding chart dinged. Originally it'd been an annoyance, I'd thought myself to be a solitary creature with the need for only the company of my various friends in the forms of beasts.

She'd been bothersome, hanging onto everything I did, right on my heels and so knowledgeable about everything I'd said. It seemed obvious she didn't need a teacher, she needed someone to praise her for every intelligent thing she'd spoken of. Then it seemed to slowly grow, slow enough that I didn't quite realise when I'd began to enjoy the little facts she'd throw up for me or how she'd smile at my blunders, or how fond she was of all the creature's I'd introduced her too so far.

Fondness seemed to be her comfort zone, she wasn't interested in using any of them for her gain Rather she was fascinated by each creature in it's uniqueness, sometimes I wondered if I could simply watch her with the animals and see her interactions. Just to see if they were truthful, I suppose.

"Yes, yes. We're going." I sighed at the Niffler that had found his way to sit in front of me, just as scolding as before. He was a persistent little bugger. I suppose thats why he and Ara got on so well.

* * *

So far I'd kept the Niffler just behind me so he wouldn't ruin any possible tracks these vagabonds had left. He didn't care for humouring me tonight, choosing to sniff along the ground in-front of me and scamper off into the dark. I huffed in annoyance, stopping for a second as I tried to pick up on any noises he might make. He'd disappeared quite frankly.

He hadn't burrowed under ground from what I could see by the light of my wand so there must be something obscuring my view. I hesitantly raised an arm, my fingers outstretched to see if I could feel any such barrier.

This was far more difficult than I'd been expecting, crouching and stumbling along to look for any clues as to where my traveling partner and our Niffler had gone. The only hope I had if I were taken as well is that my creatures were safe at the boarding house.

I held my wand up warily, unsure as to whether or not I should really be doing this revealing charm. It was said that the targets could feel something 'swooping' over them, but hopefully this would be worth it. The intelligent and ambitious witch in her should know that I'm at least nearby, maybe that could be of some comfort? I wasn't sure.

I'd tried to comfort her when her fever was at it's highest, she kept telling me she wasn't asleep. I don't think she even knew I was there until she'd woken up or that she'd been dreaming with me trying to soothe her. I felt as though I was back at Hogwarts at some points that night, watching her move and being unable to fully interact without blushing or stumbling over myself.

A tickling sensation stopped my movements and my thoughts quickly. I looked towards what appeared to be a dark empty clearing in the trees and continued to inch forwards in a crouch. Suddenly I found myself staring at a campfire with one man sitting at it, two were in sleeping bags behind him it seemed. He must have been on watch, I spotted a large metal cage that seemed to already have been attacked from the inside.

I slithered my way into an area of dense foliage to not alarm the man whose eyes had darted in my direction but bounced back to the cage. It took me a moment to note the light blonde hair that seemed dirtied with grass stains and bits of branches. They'd kept her in a _cage_? My mouth dropped open of it's own accord as I took in her state. She looked a mess, a cold one that that.

They'd kept her too far away from the fire for any warmth and they'd stripped her of her outerwear, it was absolutely barbaric. She was left in her torn t-shirt, boots, and trousers. Each piece of clothing hung loosely, it was due to the fact that most of what she wore was created for a more manly frame than hers. My blood grew a bit hot, not quite boiling, at the fact that she'd been so mistreated. I hated to see anything or anyone in such a cage, it was inhumane among other things.

I felt a tugging on my pant's leg and looked down to see the Niffler clicking excitedly. I put a finger to my lips to signal we should be quiet and nodded at his enthusiasm from the fact that he'd found Ara.

"So then, Minte..." The man started, his hair hung down in a black shaggy mess 'round his ears but he seemed young enough to be in his 30s.

" _Ara_ minte." She corrected annoyed, I couldn't see her face but I knew she'd be bothered by it nonetheless.

"Yeah yeah, sorry 'bout that. Anyways, so you're telling me theres such a thing as _Nifflers_?" He continued, waving her annoyance away easily.

"Bloody-fuck. Yes. There are. And I want mine back." She seemed to almost snarl at the man, angry enough to kick the caging around her. Her foot made a nicely sized dent that fit in with the numerous others facing the fire.

"I don't think so. Can't give you that, till you give us where the Graphorn is." He shrugged easily, lying to her for the location of our boarding house. I felt a cold fear set in through my limbs as it seemed she could give it away. She could easily betray me and just hand over my case for her own safety as well as the Niffler's. My lips formed a tight line and my shoulders began to tense as she nodded at him.

"Right right. Fine. I'll tell you, Mikey, but you've got to come over here." She smiled cruelly. It felt as though my heart was cracking down the middle. Why had I ever trusted her? I'd left all my creatures defenseless and in a neatly packaged box to come here for her.

He stood, looking happy at the fact that he'd won this little debate that I had to guess had been going on for hours. He came close enough to hear whatever she had to say but she waved him closer still. He shimmied closer, balanced on his feet and low enough to the ground that he could have simply sat down.

"Closer." She chimed out and moved to lean against the front of her caging as my heart beat thundered in my ears. I shouldn't just be crouched here, waiting for the moment she showed her true colours, I should be running back to my creatures.

He was now pressed up against the cage looking interested but also a little uncomfortable at his angle. I didn't want to look anymore but I couldn't look away. Part of me kept telling the rest that this was a trick of my own mind, it wasn't real. She couldn't be that kind and warm _and_ be that heartless.


	11. Chapter 11

_**LOUDER-N-PROUDER : I did the same happy dance when I got your review! This is really the only pay I get out of doing this and its absolutely wonderful. It doesn't matter if you haven't written in years and years, the best time to start is now!**_

 _ **D.D Ryohei S Court725 Kaylala : I'm glad you guys enjoyed his POV. It continues for a little more down below then I switch back to hers for some parallels. Hope you enjoy it, guys!**_

 _ **Demona Everknight/ AFangirlLife : Something like that C: **_

_**Guest 1 : Theres now two of you and I'm not sure if you're the same but! I think you'll know this is for you if you're not the same. **__**I enjoyed fulfilling your idea! Sometimes a reader will suggest something and it just doesn't flow with the story and other times it works perfectly.**_

 _ **As for the scatterbrained bits we see in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I'm thinking of Ara not being entirely in the picture either before or for the Events in New York, coming around a little later. I won't give anything else away because I'm still thinking things up but it**_ **may** _ **happen!**_

 _ **Guest 2 : That time would be right about now. As for a schedule, I don't have one that I could stick with religiously.**_

* * *

I swallowed with an inkling of fear resting in my bones. She was going to give us up, she didn't care for me like I'd thought she had. She didn't care _at all_. This was a terrible idea, I shouldn't have come here. What was I thinking?

I turned away, finally had my share of torment it seemed. I heard nothing else, I didn't want too. I bent lower to pick up the Niffler who seemed quite irritated with my doing so, trying to nip my fingers viciously. I frowned at him with frustration, how could he not understand what she was doing?

"Stupefy." It was a whisper that forced me to pop back up in a hurry for some odd reason. I watched as little fingers began to search this Mikey's belt loops and pockets with fury through the bars. What was this?

I watched a moment longer as she seemed to find whatever she'd been looking for and slowly unlocked the cage she was sitting in. She...hadn't betrayed me. My mouth didn't seemed to want to work as she couldn't get the door open despite it being unlocked and began to kick it. The man's stunned body had kept her door forced closed. Relief flooded through me, she wasn't going to use me as leverage for herself.

I moved from the trees quickly, allowing the Niffler to run freely to her. She jumped at the sight of me, looking panicked for a good 30 seconds until it seemed to registered who I was. I wondered if she would always have this immediate panic when she saw me or if maybe I needed to announce myself more. She'd obviously seen some kind of war and it'd left it's mark on her.

"Hey. Hey buddy. Can you do me a favour?" She immediately leaned down to the Niffler's level on the ground as she whispered to him.

"Lovely, can you find my wand and my purse? But be _very_ quiet. Okay?" She seemed happy, happier than I was honestly expecting. I'd been expecting her to be angry with us, angry that we'd left her for this long.

It'd all happened so fast at dusk today, I'd only realised she was in trouble when I'd heard her whispering then everything snapped into motion. I had to get the Graphorn to safety and she'd paid the price. These men came out of no where and it felt as though there were a lot more than three at the time. I stunned them the best I could but she'd been snatched by the time I looked back for her.

"I-I'm sorry." I whispered to her as my body finally found it's speed. I began to move this man's stunned body out of the way, to give her her freedom. I gave her my hand in some attempt to touch her and know she was okay but she'd elected to get out on her own with a unabashed smile. Inexplicably, I felt a little upset that she hadn't taken my hand but I let it go in order to inspect her person for damages. Outside of her blisters getting dirty, she seemed unharmed. A positive for today.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you and the little shit." She laughed breathlessly, still shaking. She seemed to not notice how much she was shaking but it was one of the only things I could notice. I had to do something about it. Without entirely thinking it through, I took off the scarf I'd worn and put it around her neck rather roughly. I felt I was still too awkward to be considered sociable in her area of the world.

"Oh..." She fingered it slowly, taking in the pieces of twig's I'd apparently gathered on my way here. I felt my lips go into a thin line again as I waited for a response, the blood seemed to be rushing in my cheeks more than usual in this cold. Had I been too forwards? Was I bothering her?

"You..um. You seemed to be cold." I finished lamely feeling like I had to explain myself as I looked away from her quickly.

"Right! Thanks." She smiled shyly this time and quickly turned to start looking around us. It dawned on me that we were currently in the middle of a mine field with one of their's already down. Idiot, focus on whats going on around you. This is how you got her into this in the first place.

I peered down at the Niffler who seemed proud to show her his ability to pull oddly shaped objects out of it's pouch with glee. He pulled out a dark wand but it was too long to be hers. Then another that was simply too light, it wasn't the larch wood I knew hers to be. Finally he pulled hers out and held it up to her, he'd known which was hers and which wasn't?

This little creature knew more about her than I'd given him credit for originally. I found myself a little annoyed by that and elected to brush it off to pay attention to what she was doing at the moment. She'd bent down in front of me, picking both the Niffler and all the wands up and slinging the purse over her shoulder while whispering praise to him. I heard a murmur coming from the men in their bags and a twitch out of the stunned man who seemed very much aware as to what she was doing.

I glared at him, and sighed hoping we wouldn't be too much longer simply because I didn't fancy another duel. I was more of the evade and escape type rather than Ara's preferred version of attack and destroy.

She caught onto the stirrings of the others and seemed to snap into motion, cradling the Niffler to her chest I watched as she grabbed my hand and pulled me quickly. Zips of electricity flooded my arm and heated my cheeks again but I didn't elect to pull away from her. I wasn't all that sure if I even could force myself too, though I felt like she didn't really mean anything by it. I kept finding myself overthinking these things with her around and I wasn't sure as to why. I wasn't sure of a lot of things anymore.

* * *

"Alright, so we have their wands but I have a feeling they'll know about that soon." She was pacing in our room, back and forth and back and forth. I was leaning against the wall closest to her bed, unsure if she'd be fine with me sitting on it like the Niffler was so comfortable doing.

"Do you think they'll know where we are? I mean these are American's, they've probably got muggle firearms or-or _something_." She seemed quite flustered as she spoke to me. I wasn't even sure if she wanted a response or if she was merely bouncing ideas off of me like she seemed to enjoy doing so far. I nodded just in case, still quiet.

"W-we should go look for the other Graphorn and get the hell out of here." She stopped pacing suddenly which made my scarf swing on her torso as she her hands on her looked between the Niffler and myself for some response I'd imagined. I looked up from the scarf to her eyes for a second, remembering just why she was waiting on me for an answer.

"That sounds like a good idea." I replied frankly, and began to feel a touch nervous just staring into her brown eyes for more than a minute. They reminded me of a doe's in some ways with the depth to them.

* * *

 **ARA P.O.V FROM AFTER THEY RETURN FROM CAMP.**

I was nervously pacing. I couldn't stop. This was just a little terrifying and I'm pretty sure I was scaring Newt because he kept focusing on the scarf around my neck while he kept to a corner.

"Alright, so we have their wands but I have a feeling they'll know about that soon." I tried making conversation with the creature and man that were watching me but neither spoke. So I tried again.

"Do you think they'll know where we are? I mean these are American's, they've probably got muggle firearms or-or _something_." I huffed, glancing at Newt again. He nodded this time, okay so he was listening. At least I had that going for me?

"W-we should go look for the other Graphorn right now and get the hell out of here after we find it." I stopped pacing so I'd stop scaring my companions and stuck my hands on my hips as I waited for a response. He wasn't looking at me however, he was watching his scarf flop around and the thought passed through my head that maybe he wanted it back? I almost felt embarrassed that I'd possibly gotten it dirty or that I hadn't realised he'd wanted it back already. I was slacking on social cues.

"That sounds like a good idea." He replied finally, looking me in the eyes for a quick second before his darted off to the side again. I sighed quietly to myself and looked at the group of wand's I'd tossed onto my cot. The Niffler was sitting on the edge, with his little flippers swinging. He seemed giddy enough, happy to hang onto me when we'd ran.

It dawned on me that I'd held Newt's hand all the way from that stupid bloody campsite. I supposed the fact that I'd held Mr Scamander's hand threw him off. He was so awkward, why did I _do_ that? Merlin's beard, Ara, what the hell were you thinking?

I wanted to smack myself in the face really really hard but couldn't with him standing there, possibly watching as I went totally silent for a good minute. Still staring. Bloody hell. Why am I so awkward? I wasn't _always_ this awkward. Speak, Ara. Speak for goodness sakes!

"Right." I nodded with my voice hitting a higher pitch than I meant to. He watched me for another second and suddenly moved forwards, I stood still as he came around me warily. Probably should have just taken a step back and let him go past. I think his awkwardness has rubbed off on me. I watched him go and pick up the wands, stuffing them into his jacket pocket. I watched in silence as he opened his case and disappeared into it.

Looking back at the Niffler curiously, "Should I be following him down there?" I wondered out loud to the creature. He seemed to shrug at me, he had no idea of course.

I waited a moment and heard his shoes clicking on the ladder's stairs as he came up to where we were. He was carrying a blue coat that looked similar to his own. I watched silently with not a clue as to why he was holding his own jacket's copy until he came to stand in front of me. My eyes flickered back and forth between the jacket, Newt, and the Niffler for some hint as to what to say or do right now.

Uncomfortably he outstretched the jacket towards me which should have been my body's cue to actually move and take the jacket like it seemed he wanted but...the body wasn't rolling with that today. Of course not. I stood there and stared at him still. He was a pretty good sport about my body refusing to cooperate and just pulled the coat over my shoulders roughly.

After it'd stayed he elected to say nothing whatsoever and went towards the door, opening it and walking out. I stared confusedly after him and stood there still. I felt a weight climb on top of my boot and bent down to pick up the Niffler gently.

"Coming?" Newt's head popped back into the doorway with a quiet worry in his eyes. I nodded quickly, slipping the Niffler into a breast pocket I'd found in his jacket. The same I think Pickett hung around in.


	12. Chapter 12

_**AmberdeenGirl17** : I actually thought of her being a redhead then thought maybe it'd be strange? I don't know! Thank you for impatiently waiting, however. x)_

 _ **LOUDER-N-PROUDER: ** I hope you do! I just got out of exams in time to fly back over to Europe which is where I get to write for now. Its stressful but you can do it! (If you've not already taken all your exams by now.)_

 _ **Guest/ Witch of Evil/ Ryohei S/ AFangirlLife/ LoveFiction2017/ D.D** : i'm glad you guys enjoyed it! Heres the next one x) _

_**Muckalup The Wolf:** I'm glad it makes you feel like you're there! Half of my story is the reader's own imagination, I think. _

_The pair will be moving to another country soon for about two new creatures (rather a considered a colony at this point in 1921), care to take a guess?_

* * *

We'd been going through the motions of hiking up hills again, in search of the other Graphorn I was assuming. Newt had been silent the entire time, only sparing me a glance when he thought I might need some help overcoming a particularly rocky path. I couldn't tell if he was doing it because he cared or if I was a particularly troublesome burden for him.

I tripped slightly, on the tip of my own shoe in the dawn's early light. I closed my eyes and attempted to turn slightly so that the Niffler avoided most of the damage, rather that my back would take the hit of each sharp rock.

I didn't ever really hit the floor though, instead I heard a sharp "Oh!", and felt nothing outside of a jerk near my shoulders. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times as I realised I'd somehow landed in Newt's legs, they were boney feeling but not nearly as painful as the rocks would have been.

"Um. Sorry!" I sat up quickly as I apologized realising how much of a burden I must actually be. I couldn't be trusted with the Niffler, I kept almost trying to kill him in the situations I got myself into. I went silent as I tried to go up in the path above him, so if I fell he wouldn't have to turn around to stop me from hurting his creature in my pocket, or tearing up his jacket.

"Do I annoy you?" Newt spoke up with some curious insistence, stopping me in my tracks as I turned to look back at him. His face was tight looking, with his lips formed into a thin line and his brows were crinkled together. He looked...nervous?

"No." I furrowed my brow, a little puzzled with the reasons for his question. "Do I annoy _you_?" I slipped my hands into his spacious pockets so he wouldn't have to see my nervous tendencies. His eyes darted to my hands and quickly looked back up to my eyes.

"Not at all. I...I find you refreshing." He finished slowly, looking away from my eyes to the ground. I spun back around and began walking again with a small smile, just for me. He'd actually looked me in the eyes for a little while.

"What does refreshing mean?" I wondered out-loud, quirking a brow at the name. I'd been called odd, out-spoken, and all together strange at times for my love of creatures but...refreshing was a first.

"Um. We-" He started before I shushed him and ducked down with my hand stuck out behind me to signal he should as well. I could see the light of a fire, and from it, three men. How was it that everywhere I went, these men found me. I felt like if I went to the loo, they'd be there as well somehow.

"What is it?" Newt whispered hotly behind me as I heard the subtle crunching of the ground as he came closer and closer.

"I-I think it's the same men as before." I cautioned him, trying to keep him back with my hand. I felt his chest against it, the wrinkled material of his shirt and collar rubbed against my hand as he came to a stop behind me.

"Do you see the Graphorn?" He questioned quietly as it seemed possible for him. I pursed my lips as I attempted to raise my head higher so I could see over the hill in-front of us to the three men on the other side.

"No. But...I think they're looking for something?" I tilted my head to the side as I watched one man crouch and lower his torch to the ground then stand. What could they possibly be looking for? I saw another crouch down and shouted something that the wind took away with each blow, I had to assume they were either looking for me or for the Graphorn. Tracks would usually be the only way to find either one of us considering they didn't have their wands anymore.

"Stay back here and hold him." I commanded with more confidence than I truly felt but I wanted to make sure these creatures with us weren't harmed. So, I handed the Niffler back to Newt with a heavy heart. He was unhappy but it had to be done and he seemed to understand that, no matter how fussy he was being.

"...or India for that bloody invisible thing. This just seemed the easiest!" The shorter of the similar looking men, Mikey I want to say was arguing profusely with the tallest, Vince. I was surprised at how well Vince seemed to be taking the disrespect until he punched Mikey square in the nose.

"Well, it ain't. Is it now? We've lost our wands _and_ the stupid horse thing." Vincent swore, loud enough for me to hear the whole sentence over the wind. I was posed just behind a rock that seemed to cover my entire body, allowing me to bend in with the dark left while the sun rose. I was trying my best not to step on the tails of Newt's coat but it was difficult as I became more and more unbalanced.

"Should have just gone after that damn demiguise thing." Terry groaned loudly, I peeked over the rock to watch him sit down with his head in his hands.

"It was just a fancy monkey, though." Mikey spoke up, disagreeing I felt.

"Fancy enough to have a 2,000 dollar price on it's coat." Vincent growled, smacking Mikey on the back of his head roughly. I pursed my lips in a tighter line than before, a little upset with how roughly he treated his men. Still, for such a price on a Demiguise's pelt, it meant their client was relatively powerful enough to afford it the taxes and fines that came with hunting a protected species.

If that was the price of a demiguise, I had to wonder what the price was on a Graphorn considering they were thought to be nearly extinct. A single mating pair was reported in existence and I had a feeling we had the female half of the pair. The other was still being hunted, we needed to get him to safety but how when we couldn't find him?

"Look, theres the damn tracks again. We'll just follow it." Vincent ordered happily, turning to move towards a bit of unseen writing in the ground to lead them towards the Graphorn. I huffed to myself as they seemed to continue on, following their own path. Once I was sure they were gone, I waved in the direction I thought Newt was in and waited for a second.

Worry began to creep up on me when I saw no movement from their direction, where was my teacher and the Niffler? Where was my Newt? I bit my lip as I started to move towards the darkness that I thought held them.

"Ara?" I jumped close to a meter off the ground when I heard a soft voice whisper my name behind me.

"Merlin, Newt!" I gasped, holding a hand to my chest out of the fright. He looked decently apologetic until I huffed, then it seemed as though it was almost funny to him.

"Sorry. I uh. I was just trying to keep an eye on you and all." A crooked smile, popped up on the side of his mouth as he shrugged his remorse off for the amusement. I was surprised he'd been able to look at my eyes for such a time until he began looking at my mouth. It was better than to the left of my head or something, I guess.

"Thats sweet." I snorted unattractively and punched his shoulder as I leaned forwards to stand. It hit me right after I'd done it, that it was kinda...weird. Who does that? I felt awkward and out of place near him right now so I elected to speed walk after I'd grabbed the Niffler back from him.

* * *

We'd ended up crouched closely together behind a set of trees in front of the watering hole we'd spotted the first Graphorn at. I held my purse near my feet with how crunched we were into a small space so we wouldn't be found.

Newt had concocted a soft holding place for the Graphorn, he'd had perfected his technique ages ago and suggested he cast it when we'd gotten a little bored with these men. It didn't take long for them to settle down into a waiting game, so we did as well. Luckily, we were closer to the water than they were but I wasn't sure what that'd mean exactly when the Graphorn finally came 'round.

This was all temporary and I had to remind myself of that at time, especially when Newt and I were this close. He kept trying to shift to give me more space but it was often that he'd wind up almost knocking me over which required even more contact. It was at this point that I was so glad the sun had only just risen and he couldn't see the blush that encompassed my entire face and neck at this point.

"Do...do you find me weird? I-I mean do you find this weird. This situation." Newt whispered softly into my hair and ear. It tickled slightly but I was determined not to react anymore strangely than I already had.

"No. I..." I pursed my lips, unsure as to how to go about this. That I wasn't this awkward because I didn't like it, rather that I was this awkward because I did and I didn't want him to feel as awkward as I did at the moment. I didn't want him to hate me for this odd flight of fancy I'd taken.

"I...I admire you." I finished in a lame whisper as he remained silent for my internal debate. I felt a bit like a creep, enjoying almost every bit of attention he'd give me at this point but I wasn't sure when it'd started.

"I think I like that." He trailed off, like his sentence wasn't entirely done as he mulled it over in his head. I nodded warily, that was a good sign. Right? Probably. I heard stomping and paused what I was going to say, hoping that we'd heard the Graphorn's hooves before the other group had.

"Give me your bag, please." Newt was urgent now, our odd little conversation was entirely forgotten with the only worry being getting the male Graphorn to safety. I handed it over to him easily as he leapt out with the bag at the ready. I followed suit but with my wand poised to let off a curse or something to keep us safe while we did our duty.

"You two _again?!_ " Vincent yelled out angrily as Newt attempted to coax the Graphorn into my bag.

"Looks like it." I yelled back, throwing up a defensive boundary near him and his associates.

"You know it's illegal to steal another wizard's wand Miss Maximae?!" The second tallest, Terry yelled as me as I pushed him back using my barrier. They were separating, trying to get us from three sides rather than one. I refused to go down at this point, I'd already let my guard down once and found out exactly where it'd gotten me.

"Did you know it's illegal to hunt an endangered animal?" I barked with little guilt as how to their wands went missing. The smallest, Mikey I think, he got too close and it scared me.

"Flipenedo!" I spoke the spell with little regard as to how hard I'd wound up flipping him backwards continuously. He wound up hitting the patches of trees Newt and I had just jumped out of with enough force to not get back up again.

"We've got a job to here, thats all." Terry scoffed loudly, as my eyes darted back between him and his boss to his right.

"So do we." I declared as I took one more glance back to see Scamander successfully scoop up the Graphorn with a gentle hastiness. Vincent took a step too close, forcing my brain to spout out the first spell I could think of to get him to stop coming near me.

"Awendap eft wansaeliga neatu" The Celtic impediment spell worked enough that he could not even open his mouth anymore than he already had. It was a homebrew, an attempt to reconnect with my roots and it seemed to have worked.

I spun to Terry and watched as he froze in place as well, seemingly uninterested in coming any closer than he already had. Instead he raised his hands in some kind of surrender and back away from us. I took a few steps back as well, with my wand ready to fire off anything else at the last man standing of his camp but he didn't. So, I grabbed Scamander's hand again and handed my wand to the Niffler in my pocket before I took off running again with Newt close behind me.


	13. Chapter 13

_**So I'm not dead...theres that. And theres another chapter!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

I'm not entirely sure if we actually spoke about the fact that I seemed to enjoy holding his hand all the time considering we were so focused on getting the Graphorn out of my bag and into his case. It was hard work, to actually transport a beast that was frightened and angry at the same time. This meant that conversation was rather tense, and the muggle travel method was long, but the silence that endured wasn't out of the norm.

The silence wasn't all that bad, I guess. Almost peaceful as we traveled along the country via a slew of trains and planes until we landed our way onto a cramped box cart with three Indian women that were all so very interested in Newt with his light hair and freckled face. The cows pulling our cart were leading us out to a rather remote village that couldn't be reached as easily by foot, and frankly I was happy to be off my feet for once.

The close quarters wasn't all that bothersome with Newt and his case but it was with the other women. They smelled odd to me, earthy but spicy, and Newt was entirely too red-cheeked for my liking. I guess it was mainly that his appearance was being so appreciated along with his accent that bothered me, they didn't even know him. I did...

Okay, now I'm acting a little crazy and I need to calm down. These are just people, he doesn't even fancy me in that way. I'm a troublesome but probably sort of a good partner to take out on excursions...probably good. I mean, I think I'm okay. Merlin, the insecurity is flowing stronger than usual today.

"Ara?" I blinked several times before I realized Newt was on his way out of the odd carriage and that we'd come to a stop. Peering eyes were set on me as I took a moment to compose myself. I'd spent only a little over a month with this man and suddenly I was losing my marbles over him. Goodness.

"Yeah." I nodded to myself as I tried to push my thoughts away. Looking around him, I spotted the three females we'd traveled with. I think they were rather high up on the hierarchical scale here, socially speaking, but I wasn't all that sure at the same time.

"Here...I go." I whispered to myself as I climbed out of the cart with numb legs. I found it difficult to stand up properly, trying to find an odd barrel to lean on while my legs had some more blood flow. It seemed that my difficulty was obvious than I wanted it to be to Newt as he moved his hand to float just near the crook of my arm.

I began to shake one leg after another, leaving each one with a tingly feeling, like I'd been pricked by a dozen needles at once. The girls gave me an odd stare while they waited for Newt's attention to drift back towards them. I got several more odd looks from several of the villagers going on about their business around us, the two out of place people.

I thought we'd find some sort of establishment here that allowed us to rest for the nights we'd need here but found it might not be that easy. My eyes darted around, past the people to the traditional looking mud and wood houses and quickly figured out there was no such thing here. I had a feeling these were all muggles as well, judging by the dirt lined paths and expansive gardens surrounding each home. Everything was manual here, hard labour and driven by the village as a whole.

* * *

These girls were seriously starting to bother me, I'd been separated from Newt thanks to them. He stayed at another hut, courtesy of twiddle dee and twiddle dum, while I stayed at another with another family. I was happy for the hospitality but at the same time, I felt quite alone and lost. I didn't understand the language here, and the jungle that surrounded this lonely village was quite choking in a way.

Another round of giggles and disapproving looks were thrown my way as I sat near the fire outside their home. I shifted uncomfortably and pulled my pants legs farther down to cover up the pale skin that surrounded my ankles. Even in the civilized society of London I felt more comfortable in my own skin than I did now. I kept wondering about my Niffler, if Newt had kept him safe and sound so far or if I should possibly start searching for the little guy.

"British, yes?" I glanced up from the fire to meet eyes with a man. He was young enough but time under the sun and the dirt on his cheek told me he'd possibly aged prematurely. It was hot here, hot and humid and the fire was the only thing that seemed to keep the flying pests away from me right now.

"I'm actually Irish." I replied slowly, noting the way his eyes darted around my person to land back on my eyes. This may be the first English speaker I'd seen...or just the first person to bother speaking English to me.

"Ah, yes. I heard a bit about that place." He nodded with a half smile, his teeth seemed to be in a better condition than I was expecting from such a rural area.

"What have you heard?" I tilted my head and tried to play this curiosity off as playfulness.

"We hear a bit when we travel towards the cities. British troops like to talk." He shrugged this time, taking a bowl of food that had been handed to him by what I assumed to be his sister. I wasn't honestly sure at this point and I wasn't about to ask.

"We?" I raised a brow, probing a little into this isolated world of theirs.

"My father, brother, and I. We go to trade goods." He explained, motioning towards the elderly looking man across from me and another young man that looked to be in his 20s.

"Oh, I see." I nodded, looking back down to my feet. I wasn't entirely sure what to say right now, I was a witch and I grew up with two healers for parents. The lack of common ground I had with this man was phenomenal.

"Ara?" A hesitant but searching voice forced my head to pop up like a soldier standing at attention. I'd been hoping he'd turn up eventually.

"Oh, there you are." I peered into the dark as Newt suddenly popped down next to me.

"I am Vishnu," I looked across the flames to see the young man I'd been chatting with was now focused on Newt. "You are?" Vishnu raised a brow as he held out his hand for Newt's, standing now.

"Newton." He stood and shook the other man's hand roughly. I raised a brow at the formal tone but shook it off after Newt plopped back down next to me, his leg just touching mine.

"I believe my sisters took quite a liking to you today." Vishnu took his seat as well but looked curious, glancing between Newt and I every few seconds.

"Oh, that's nice." Newt nodded slowly. His expression appeared blank but pinched at the same time, like he was trying to remain casual but had something he really wanted to do and it didn't include talking to Vishnu.

"I actually was hoping I could steal you away for a moment, Ara." Newt trailed off as he snapped his attention onto me. I raised a brow and tried to analyze whatever he could possibly want me for right now.

"Why?" I finally asked as I came up with no answer as to why he'd want my presence at the moment.

"Uhm...our...son is acting up." He replied slowly with a noticeable wink. I was a little taken aback up until the wink that forced him to squinch up half of his face in some effort to close only one eye lid...then it was just a struggle not to start giggling.

"Of course." I nodded and stood quickly, dusting myself off in some effort to distract myself from the urge to giggle.

I followed behind Newt with about a step between us, I didn't want to get lost and feel even more alone than I already did. The path was quite dark but I didn't dare to pull out my wand for some light thanks to the dozens of muggles surrounding us.

I almost screamed when I felt something scurry past my leg, thinking it was a rat. This was before I felt it tug on my pant's leg twice, a tell-tale sign that my Niffler was hoping I'd give him a boost up.

"What's he done then?" I questioned into the darkness as I knelt for the Niffler, cupping my hands so he could find his way more safely. It didn't take long before I felt that familar squeeze on my thumb before I stood again.

"Oh, nothing actually. I just wanted to make sure we were clear on our route into the jungle." Newt surmised with what I had to assume was another quirk of his. The quirk being that he said nonsensical things simply because it was easier and people didn't question it as much with just a character as his.

"Ah, I see. Just come wake me up when you're ready for the day. I'd go to where you are but I have this unique feeling that I'm not supposed to be near the manly-man house." I grinned, trying to crack a little joke about the situation we'd somehow gotten into.

"Of course." I could see some sort of head movement in the dark but I couldn't tell what kind so I took a step closer to him.

"We'll u-uh. We will head off in search of the elusive Demiguise." Newt trailed off after stumbling over his words. I pursed my lips as my head ran through all the facts I'd recalled about the species.

"I'm sure I don't need to brush you up on those..." Oh, he wasn't sure if I got what Demiguise was or not. Thats sweet, hes trying to make sure I know he acknowledges my knowledge...well I don't know for a fact if that was what he was doing or if he just thought I was too ignorant and prideful to admit I didn't know.

"Demiguise, eastern Asian origin, size of relatively young chimpanzee, and obviously so valuable because of their pelt." I rattled off what I knew just in case he thought I was bluffing and waited to be corrected or appreciated.

"Yes, very good. We're here simply to protect and observe, however. The demiguise is generally a peaceful creature but very skittish." Newt continued, possibly nodding in the dark as I shifted the Niffler closer so he could feel some warmth.

"Of course. Also, I think he's going to have to stay with you tonight. I saw your girls swat at a rat earlier and nearly took it's head off." I snorted as I changed the subject to something that I felt was more pressing at this exact moment...and because I wanted to see his reaction.

"What girls?" Newt's utter confusion was more than communicated in just his tone, making me giggle.

"Really though? I've only got you, so what are you talking about?" Newt was matter-of-fact but still completely bamboozled by what I said, to the point I was distracted by his tone. Almost awkwardly so. I ended up calming myself down long enough to shake my head in the dark.

"Never mind, point is that you need to keep him." I snorted, trying to keep the giggles down so this conversation was less one-sided for Newt.

"But he hates staying with me, you're his favourite." Newt sounded rather put out with what I was suggesting, though he accepted it nonetheless. I knew that much simply because I felt his hands search out for mine.

"Well, he better behave." I warned as I felt his hands brush mine. They were rough, but not dreadfully so. I didn't mind them anyways, I just opened my hands enough for him to grasp the Niffler and take the wee creature back. A few moments of silence dragged on, making me think that this was my signal to leave Mr Scamander alone for the night.

"You have the oddest way with animals." His backwards compliment caught me off guard for the sole fact that he sounded like he admired this trait of mine. I wasn't sure why or how I had a way with animals, but if he thought so then there had to be something there, right?

"Thanks...I think." I replied slowly, unsure.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Happy Early Holidays, guys! :) Literally the only reason this is out right now is because I wanted to get it finished before Christmas as a little gift. Its not much, and there isn't much that happens but you'll see some growth!**_

* * *

It was little more difficult than I thought it'd be to find my way back to the fire, there were several actually. Seemed like there was one crackling away at each hut with a different family surrounding it, a communal event I was guessing. When I did finally find my way back, Vishnu gave me a small smile and a wave. The friendliest greeting I'd gotten from anyone else around here, so I had to assume that was him.

"How was he?" Vishnu regarded me with a curious look in his eyes as they darted between me and his food.

"He was fine." I shrugged, attempting to act lightly about this "son" of mine. It still gave me a few butterflies that Newton had even called him that, maybe I was slowly being accepted as a apprentice for his creatures.

"My sisters did not recall a child with you and your husband, earlier." His words hung heavier, loaded with confusion. I stopped breathing for a second at the thought of Newton ever being my _husband_. I liked him bu-I mean he was a nice guy but not like 'I'll marry him' nice, just nice. Its not that there was a particular issue with marrying him per say but I mean it had to be mutually decided.

"Oh...Well he-...See its no-...Newt isn't my husband...not really anyways and we don't have any _actual_ children." I tried to explain this in a way that didn't make me out to be a harlot nor an old maid. I'd been called worse by insecure high society women but I wasn't sure how long we'd need to stay around this village, and I didn't want to upset anyone.

"You travel alone with a man...that is not your husband?" Vishnu seemed even more confused by this if not a little thrown by it. The older man near him had gone quiet and was watching me with a disappointed look...suddenly I felt like more people here spoke English than they'd originally let on. Creeping embarrassment showed itself on my cheeks in a mere 30 seconds.

"He's not just any man...hes very close. Rather he is my par-" I started to try and explain this weird relationship we had going on to an outsider.

"Oh, he is your brother?" Vishnu cut me off and for once, I was glad for it despite the misunderstanding. The silence surrounding us was broken only by the popping of the firewood as everyone waited on me to decide my moral fate in their eyes.

"Um...yes." I nodded slowly, it felt a little strange but I wasn't sure how to explain this to muggles in this part of the world. I mean I wasn't even sure how I'd have explained this to my own mother if she were still around to witness us in all of our awkward glory.

"...He merely enjoys saying nonsensical things to strangers." I finished lamely.

"Oh. Of course. Very odd men, these Irish." Vishnu laughed, as though all was well now that I was travelling with a family member. How was it even his position to judge what I did? Or who I did? Not that I'm _doing_ Newt. I mean, its not that I'm explicitly against it, its just...Okay, Ara...just hush.

"Indeed." I gave him a tight smile and looked away quickly. This little misunderstanding couldn't possibly backfire, right?

"What do you plan to do tomorrow morning? Perhaps I could give a tour of our small village here?" Vishnu sounded hopeful but I had the perfect excuse as to why I had to reject his offer.

"Oh, Newt and I are going to explore the jungle. We are looking for something like a chimpanzee." I shook my head slowly, explaining my rejection carefully.

"Ah, of course. Would you appreciate a guide for such an endeavor?" He looked even more excitable now, as though he'd found the perfect method in which I would be hard pressed to reject him.

"I'm sure we would." I sighed with pressed lips. A thin smile graced my mouth with the corners just slightly upturned in a frustrated pinch. A muggle on a magical exploration made things more difficult, I'm just hoping that Newt understands.

* * *

I awoke bright and early, before the sun had even risen. This was due mainly to the thanks of Niffler running in circles on my bed, attempting to wake me up in the most comical but also startling circumstances. He reminded me of a small dog, overly excited about the walk or a bowl of food but he also had the look of a wee rat which was unsettling at first but it grows on you.

"Alright, alright! I'm awake." I sat up slowly from the floor and tried to stretch. My back ached a little from the stiff bed mat I'd fashioned out of coats and clothing items but I was up, which was something.

"Need to get some shoes." Sighing to myself, I stretched again. When I looked down, I watched as the Niffler scuttled to my bag near my makeshift pillow, sticking his face inside and pawing through things. I frowned for a moment, not really committed to telling him off so early in the day. He began backing up, pulling something out with him...a heel.

"Awe, sweetheart. I appreciate it but...thats the wrong shoe." I laughed to myself as I grabbed the bag and dug through for my boots. I'd organized my bag this way on purpose, there were little shelves of space before everything just sort of dropped into the floor of nothingness where everything mingled in chaos. My boots hung around the second shelf down.

It took me maybe 20 minutes before I'd gotten totally prepared from my boots being laced tight to my jacket feeling light enough that I wouldn't be dead of heat stroke and I also wouldn't die from mosquitoes. The Niffler sat in my left breast pocket with the flap shut in order to keep him safe and sound from any swinging hands or my own clumsiness.

Newt was standing right outside the hut, discussing something with Vishnu lightly. My companion and teacher seemed uncomfortable, like he was determined to stand his ground and continue the conversation but also would rather not be talking to this foreign man at all. I waved at them, breaking whatever flow there had been to the conversation.

"Ah, finally." Vishnu seemed relieved as well that I'd finally appeared.

"Good morning, gentleman." I nodded to both, sticking my hands deep into my pockets and leaning on one leg towards Newton.

"Lovely to see you, Miss." Vishnu gave me a toothy grin as he nodded, I simply nodded back and allowed my eyes to dart away from the friendly man.

"So...our route for today is about 3 kilometers away to the east. Families of primates have been discovered around there." Newt announced warily. I focused on him to find that his eyes were darting from mine to Vishnu and back again, like he wasn't entirely sure if he should be discussing this with the man around.

"Right. Any idea as to the best route for this?" I raised a brow as I turned to focus on Vishnu, who was acting as our guide. It seemed to give Newt the clear idea I'd had because he quieted down rather quickly and focused on the other man.

"I feel it'd be safer for the lady to walk between him and I, I shall lead us along to that area through there." Vishnu pointed a ways away towards a clearing of trees to our right. I shrugged as I started to walk towards the clearing with little interest in where I was going now that I wasn't being depended on for some sort of lead.

* * *

I'd gotten rather tired of this being led around thing, I kept bumping into Vishnu's back each time he stopped to check the bloody ground or something for a smell that meant we were headed in the right direction. It was hot here, hotter than I liked, and so humid in these trees. The foliage was choking me slowly, I was sure of it.

I felt a sweaty shoulder bounce off my forehead and forced myself to stop all together. My lips were forced into a straight line as I took in Vishnu's sweat soaked shirt that served only to outline each muscle in his back for me through the white fabric. Thats it. I'm having a break.

"Whoop, sorry dear." Vishnu sounded almost sorry, he probably would have sounded a lot more so if I didn't feel like this was on purpose.

"Ara?" Newt finally spoke up, sounding confused and amused as I spun around in a huff and sat my arse down on a rock rather roughly.

"I'm havin' a break." I barked as I wiped a hand across my sweaty brow for the fourth time in a row. Newt raised a brow but said nothing more as he collapsed onto the dirt next to me and popped open his case, sticking his hand in it to dig around.

I huffed with a bit of exhaustion and thirst but the scuttling in my pocket reminded me that the Niffler had to be even more unhappy than I am. He carried a furry coat on him at all times and this constant moisture couldn't be terrific feeling. I frowned to myself as I glanced at the muggle we'd traveled with and attempted to weight my odds of him catching onto the creature in my pocket.

I dug through my bag to find a canteen, attempting to avoid Vishnu's eyes as he continued to search for where too next. It took me maybe a few seconds before I'd found one near the top, where I'd left it this morning. I popped off the lid with some pride that I'd even found it.

"Here." I nearly held the canteen up to my pocket as I'd unbuttoned it when Newton held another canteen out to me.

"Oh, I've got it." I nodded, shaking the canteen towards my pocket and my traveling companion within it.

"I...I meant for you." Newt seemed to whisper the words, glancing between me and Vishnu whose back was still turned towards us. I paused to let that thought settle as the Niffler drank greedily from the bottle. It was sweet, but...thats all it was. It was sweet. I glanced at the Niffler, making sure he was finished before I capped the bottle again and set it back down.

"Thanks." I mumbled in a small smile as I accepted his drink. I bet he didn't offer anything to those two women yesterday.

The thought was oddly satisfying in a way I didn't think entirely possible as I sipped his canteen. Was I _jealous_? Had I been jealous? Am I still currently jealous? No. I can't be. Thats just not my style, I like fact and books and little bits of meaningless information like that I have 30 teeth compared to the typical 32 for an adult human because my bottom jaw had been too small.

"Are you feeling well, Miss?" I jumped a bit, startled by the sudden appearance of Vishnu. His concern was almost irritating, which I blamed on the heat exhaustion I'm currently dealing with. He was just being nice.

"She's simply tired." Newt answered lowly for me, as I wiped any remaining water from my mouth on the back of my hand. I nodded as I capped the bottle and hurriedly buttoned my breast pocket in some precautionary measure to keep the muggle away from our Niffler.

"Oh, of course. This is a difficult journey for a lady such as yourself to push towards, perhaps we should go back to allow you to rest before we con-" Vishnu started right as I held up a hand. Newt had gone eerily silent as I breathed in deeply and released that breath slowly. Did he really just try and tell me something about myself?

"I feel like as a lady, _such as myself_ , would know when I would want to go back." I pursed my lips tightly together as I snapped this out and slowly turned my head towards the man. Newt had learned through experience to not doubt my determination but apparently I had to outright _tell_ this man.

"Right." Vishnu nodded awkwardly, glancing at Newt as though he was expecting him to have something to say on this matter. I stood quickly, attempting to dust off my rear as I figured out whether or not I still trusted this man's sense of direction.

"Mikey. Hurry up!" I opened my mouth to say something right as a voice carried through the trees somehow. I felt my heartbeat jump in a pinch and my eyes darted immediately to Newt. That couldn't possibly be who I thought it was, right? No. They couldn't have traveled to the same exact tiny village for the same purpose. Thats too much of a coincidence.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hi!**_

 _ **I am so so sorry for being away for so long. It was rough finding the inspiration to continue on with this story at the same pace and intensity I have been. I hope I did with this chapter!**_

* * *

"We need to hide." I practically hissed as I chucked the canteen at Newt and scrambled to find some sort of hiding area around us. I couldn't tell where the Americans were coming from, they could be anywhere considering that sound bounced off of trees and all the foliage surrounding us.

"Ara..." Newt's voice was soft and he sounded just as unsure as I felt. My head spun around to meet his eyes like I was possessed, his was tilted towards the muggle accompanying us. I eyed Vishnu who was looking at me like I might possibly be insane right now, he was looking down at my chest. I followed his gaze to realise I'd startled the Niffler and he was squirming in my breast pocket.

"Um...I um...I like to keep...Er. I'm afraid of snakes." My answer fell flat as I struggled to find words to explain my panic and why it appeared that I kept a live animal in my jacket pockets.

"Wait...STOP! Do you hear something?" The same american called to his compatriots. We were all still until Vishnu took a step forwards, cracking a fallen branch under his weight.

"That way!" The sound of feet hitting the ground was enough to reignite the fire under my arse as I elected to take off in one direction at a run. I imagined that Newt and Vishnu were following me but I didn't bother to check, I just wanted to get away from the Americans already. How was it that any time I got even vaguely comfortable, they appeared? Just how?

I spotted a large tree and spun myself around it, attempting to become the tree. I could hear feet, if they were the American's or Newts, I didn't know. I was really just hoping they were Newt's at this point, I was okay with dueling them yet again but I wanted to avoid it due to the little guy in my pocket. It didn't take me a while to figure that out when the sandy blonde hair whipped around a corner and landed on my face.

It seemed he had the same idea of hiding as I had but there wasn't enough room for him to just stand next to me without being seen. This was a shite predicament right now. I could feel his breath run down my neck and ignored the zings from his proximity.

I brushed his hip reaching for my wand to cast an illusion charm over us, to make it look like it was just trees around here. I couldn't think of one under pressure and elected to just cast a confundus over the ground in front of the tree.

" _Confundus_ " I twisted under Newt's frame, leaning into him slightly as I whispered the charm with my wand point towards the ground. I rolled back to my original position, brushing against something hard under his clothing.

He was quite boney. Goodness. I glanced at his face with a sorry look to find his eyes had darkened and he was actually looking me in the eye right now. Our stare-down of sorts forced some blood to run to my cheeks, enough that I decided to stare at the trees behind him. I needed to get ahold of myself, I really did. This odd fancy I'd taken to him was going to get me sent home.

We waited for a bit, hearing the men's voices come closer and then disappear entirely. Bless everything in the great green world. They'd gone farther away. I let out a breath that I didn't realise I'd been holding onto and stepped away from the tree at the same time he did.

"Wait...where did Vishnu go?" I spanned our surroundings to find it was just Newt and I now.

"Appears we lost your...friend." Newt trailed off for a second, forcing me to look back at him with a raised brow until he finished his sentence.

"You don't sound nearly as worried as you ought to be." I snorted, shaking my head at him. I wasn't sure why he wasn't, we were utterly lost right now. We had the case and we had our wand which meant, we could just apparate out of here but I wasn't sure of where to go. If we went to the village, they were sure to ask about one of their own missing.

"I didn't find him to be of the most interesting sort." He declared, taking a step forwards. I rolled my eyes at that, he didn't need to be interesting, just knowledgeable as to where to go.

"So?" I waved a hand at him as he went silent, looking worried at my expression and hand motions. I sighed after he failed to respond and began walking in a direction that I hoped would eventually lead to out of this wet and hellish jungle. I was actually starting to miss the blistering cold.

I continued walking for a bit, but stopped when I spotted something shiny in the corner of my eye. I'd stopped suddenly enough that Newt didn't have enough time to and stumbled into my back lightly.

"Sorry." He mumbled his apology as I began to creep towards the shiny under a pile of leaves and branches. I began moving them slowly, waiting to be attacked by something but nothing happened and the leaves came away to reveal six silver eggs.

"Newt!" I hissed for my companion to come over here.

"Occamy eggs." He noted, looking around us. The silver glinted back in what little sunlight there was around, and I was taken by it. It made me smile, such little things had to be in there and they were just waiting to be born. I had no idea when they would be and I didn't see a mother around, which was a little worrying. Generally my arm would have been bitten off by now if there was a mother to these things.

I felt the Niffler shifting in my pocket and looked down to see him pop his head out, peeking at the eggs with excitement on his face. He began trying to climb out when I put a hand over him. His eyes turned to me as he knickered what I took to be 'How can you _not_ let me nab those big shiny things, woman?'

"They're not for you." I replied softly, looking back at the eggs.

I was going to say something else when I heard a footsteps near us. My head spun around again, as I looked at Newt who was perfectly still, watching me as I watched him. Fear surged through my chest, reaching my arms and legs as I snatched his case from him and nearly ripped it open. Carefully, I began picking each egg up and placing them within, hoping we'd have enough time later to go in and construct a habitat for them.

"Look at what we have here." The voice brought back visions of a wand being pushed into my back and irked me. Literally just this man's voice could irk me at this point and I only had one more egg to go.

"Vincent was it?" I replied cockily, still holding the egg in my hands. It felt smooth and cold in them, worrying me. Occamies were coldblooded but they still required warmth in their gestation period. That was something I remember from my time in school...from Newt actually.

"Mintey? Was it?" He smirked as my expression turned into a glare. My eyes strayed to the brandished weapon pointed in my direction with some worry, though I tried my best not to show it. I should have known he'd pick up a gun sooner or later.

"Beaten by me twice and yet, you still can't pronounce my name. Shameful." I reproached him, moving the egg until it was right over the open case.

"Not this time, Honey." He shook his head as the weapon clicked in his hands.

"Now do yourself a favour and hand me that." He motioned over to the egg with the tip of his weapon. I pursed my lips for a second and thought it over, there was no way in hell that I was handing him this egg. So, what to do?

"I don't think so." I sighed, eyeing the gun and his face.

"Really now?" He looked to be almost amused with my wanton bravery, maybe I should have been put into Gryiffindor. This was idiotic enough to warrant the gaudy combination of red and gold.

"Nope." I popped the P as I dropped the egg.

"You shouldn't have done that." Vincent sighed, and shook his head. I shrugged as I spun to slam the case shut and roll away with it in my arms. I got maybe half a meter away before I was startled by the resounding BOOM as he fired at where I had been. An array of spells were being shouted above me and I was actually a little proud of my Newt finding his dueling legs.

"Newt!" I screamed his name as I threw the case at him, trying to keep his creatures safe and pull out my wand in one movement. It didn't quite work, my wand snagged on a belt loop right as I was kicked in the back by one of the other men and for a second I was terrified that my wand would snap.

I yanked it harder, and for once things actually worked in my favour. It came loose and I scrambled to get to my feet in rush, brandishing my wand like a sword that was ready to impale.

I felt a hand near my neck and spun around to see one of the younger Americans.

I don't know what possessed me but I fell back and shouted " _CONFRINGO!_ " right next to his shoulder.

The force threw me farther back then planned, much farther. I wrapped my arms around my front and tried to roll into a ball as I bounced off a particularly mossy tree, falling on my side after my collision. My eyes jumped around at the scene to see Newt shielding his case with no visible injuries which was a relief. More of a relief than I thought it would be in these circumstances.

I heard groans and felt some horror at the blood coming out of the younger American I'd blasted into the hemisphere. I actually felt bad for it, as in I actually felt bad that I'd hurt one of the men that were only too happy to skin an animal because they could get paid for it. What am I even thinking here?

I felt a hand grab mine, yanking me to my feet and blinked blearily as Newt tried to get me to run with him. I was so distracted by the site that I didn't even take into account we were still technically in a duel with them.

* * *

"Take a breath, Ara." Newt's voice distracted me from noticing how long we'd actually been running for, I had no concept of time right now and my ears were ringing.

"Right." I mumbled, moving my hand away from my breast pocket for the first time since we'd run back into the lot of them. The Niffler poked his head out, looking both angry and terrified at the same time. He was clicking, sounding quite irritated as he climbed out and tried to go up my shoulder. He was sniffing as he went and when he got to my shoulder, he ran around it, almost slipping off my chest entirely.

"What is he doing?" I breathed, holding my hands out to catch him in case he fell.

"I think...hes trying to see if you're hurt. Your shoulder and neck were bleeding terribly last time." Newt came closer, peering down at the little guy. The idea warmed my heart but I had a feeling he was also quite irritated with the loud and bumpy ride he'd had in my pocket so far.

"A-are you?" Newt came even closer now, outstretching a hand to brush away from of my hair from my shoulder. I couldn't tell if this was normal for a student-teacher relationship or if this was becoming more...is it bad that I was kind of wishing he'd push the boundaries a bit? Probably.

"Ara?" He tried getting my attention again as I looked back up to his eyes. He was truly looking me in the eyes right now and I didn't know what to do. I need to clear my head.


	16. Chapter 16

_**So...just something to announce. Something that a lot of you have probably been waiting a ridiculously long time for...**_

 _ **A KISS. THERES A KISS IN THIS CHAPTER.**_

 _ **and.**_

 _ **We're getting to the movie in the next chapter.**_

 _ **That is all, go on about your day! :)**_

* * *

"I'm fine." I gave him a small smile, as I nodded. He seemed to accept that, taking a step back from me. He was sweet right now but I had no idea why he was being sweet. I had a lot of questions at the moment, none of which I wanted to actually ask him.

"I wonder where our guide is now." Newt spoke aloud, making me sigh. We'd completely and utter lost him at this point and I had no idea what do at this point. We couldn't go back to the Village yet, and we still had the American's around.

"I have no idea, but now we have Occamies?" I frowned, unsure as to what to do at the moment. I guess all we _could_ do was continue on in some direction, so I brushed myself off. I'd accumulated a lot of leaves and spider webs which was worrisome but I tried my best to ignore the feeling that I had a dozen spiders crawling all over me.

"Lets just continue forwards." I declared, picking the Niffler off of my shoulder and allowing him to slip back inside my pocket. He was less that happy but he complied, nonetheless.

I didn't say anything else for a while, just marching in whatever direction we'd picked earlier. In fact I didn't even know how much time had passed until I elected to take a seat and drink some water. Newt collapsed next to me, his shoulder was just barely touching mine but it seemed like I could feel him all the same.

"I think we're lost." He surmised, uncapping his water before taking a drink of it.

"No kidding." I glanced at him behind my canteen.

"Well..." He was thinking, I could see the gears turning in his head after he'd capped the canteen again. I leaned back on my palms, looking up at the dense green canopy. Everything was so wet and hot here, but it was dark feeling under the trees. I wonder how that happened? Well, the sun probably hit everything up top which heated everything below but the heat was trapped and it rained quite a bit so-

"Do you see that?" Newt was whispering now, pulling me from my thoughts as I glanced at him to follow his eyes.

"Yeah..." I frowned, looking a metal trap that was half open. There was blood on the floor but I couldn't see an animal, there was nothing there.

"That's odd." I mumbled, standing to take a closer look. I almost jumped back as the trap dragged across the floor before reaching the end of it's length and stopping,

"It moved." Newt oberseved quietly, I nodded at that. We both just stood still for a few seconds before the Niffler had determined he was done for today and started shimmying out of my pocket. I tried to lightly grab him but he slipped out of my fingers before running down my front.

"Wait!" My whispers were sharp enough that the little guy actually stopped when he reached the ground and turned back to click at me. I imagined he was trying to tell me that he just wanted to stretch his legs but I was terrified he'd get snapped up by whatever was in the trap.

"You can't just jump ship when you'd like." I crouched down to his height ever so slowly as I whispered.

"Theres something over there." I pointed in the direction of the trap that suddenly decided to move towards us, it made me jump into action. I scooped up the Niffler in a hurry, before trying to scramble backwards as the trap dragged closer to us. It dawned on me that it wasn't so afraid anymore which was distressing. I felt hands wrap themselves around my arms and I was pulled back by Newt.

I bit my lip as I realised I couldn't reach my wand and I had absolutely no idea what this thing was, visions of animals with poisonous streams or fire or teeth jumped to my mind as the trap dragged closer.

I turned my head into Newt's chest and closed my eyes, prepared to be stung or bitten as his frame wrapped around my back with his wand pointed towards it. I shielded the Niffler with my arms, pulling him closer to my chest for some amount of protection.

Nothing happened for a second as I felt feather light touches on my ankle. I peeked an eye open to still see nothing, but I could _feel_ something touching my exposed ankle. Newt still had his wand pointed but I wasn't sure it was needed right now, so I leaned away from him slightly.

"Ara." His voice was a low whisper as he tried to pull me back lightly. I shook my head but still kept the Niffler tucked away near my chest as my other hand reached towards whatever was near me right now.

"Oh." I mumbled to myself as I felt something soft touch my outstretched hand. It couldn't be dangerous, I blinked and in a second later a white, ape-like creature materialised before my eyes.

"It's a demiguise." I mumbled lightly, looking at it's finger inspecting my own.

"Bloody hell." Newt relaxed his grip quickly as we watched it analyse both of us. I was fascinated as it's eyes flash before it moved back a little and revealed the foot that was caught inside the trap. Right! They could see the most probably event in the future, absolutely fascinating.

This was why I wanted to travel with Newt, to see things like this and experience the world. I didn't want to settle down into the same pattern everyday with a husband and kids like I was expected to do. I think it really started after I'd gotten out of the great war, creatures always fascinated me but I never got the chance to study them when I'd decided to do my part for my country. I wasn't sure when it started...actually. I think it started with Newt.

"Easy there." I blinked a bit before I realised Newt was creeping closer to the demiguise with a soft voice. I peered at the chain, wondering how we'd get it off of the poor thing and what to do after that. I was blaming the Americans. It seemed right up their alley to try and trap a defenseless creature.

"Do you have a saw?" I analysed the chain further as I let the Niffler back onto the ground who clicked at me incessantly. I waved a hand at the little creature as I waited for Newt's answer.

"In my workshop, I think." He mumbled, nodding back to the case behind me.

"I'll be back." I crept slowly over to the case and clicked it open, trying not to startle the creature.

Newt didn't respond which was all the better as I slowly maneuvered my way down the workshop and searching through things noisily, looking for a saw or something to cut through the chain without startling the little thing. Maybe I could use magic?

A SEVERING CHARM. Why didn't I think of that already? Good grief. It was a second year charm, Ara. Honestly, where is your head? I jumped up the ladder with excitement but still my movements as it dawned on me that I still had a potentially dangerous creature right here. Maybe it was the heat here.

Newt was close enough for me to feel his breath drift across my face, he'd distracted the Demiguise with Pickett it seemed. The creature was entirely engrossed with the little bowtrucket which gave me a chance to wave my wand. A stream of hot pick magic spewed out from the tip of my wand, allowing me to run it through the chain and break the demiguise free.

Bless my brain.

* * *

"He's asleep." I mentioned to Newt as we set about trying to figure out how to get the trap off of his foot. He seemed less than happy to accompany us but it seemed we'd have to keep him for a little while. His foot was mangled and blood was still seeping out which made my heart hurt but at least we'd found a safe enough place to go into the case so the trap could be taken off of him.

I took a step back to wash out one of the rag's we'd been using to soak up the blood and appraised Newt over my shoulder. His back was turned and he was leaned over the Demiguise with a face of solid concentration.

His hair had gotten a little longer and he was still a little boney but I enjoyed the way his arms flexed as he finagled with the trap. He'd rolled his sleves up, but his arms had stopped moving for a second. I glanced up at his eyes to find him observing me from the corner of his eye. I focused back on wringing out the rag quickly but some part of me wondered if that was what he looked like when he was working on me.

I heard a few clicks out the Niffler who was happily munching on a piece of bread that he'd found. I rolled my eyes at his happiness to simply sit on the desk near me and eat. I wish I was that easy to please.

Wordlessly, I join Newt back at his table again to wrap the newly cleaned rag back around the demiguise's ankle. I crouched down, examining the contraption with interest. The trap's teeth were sunken down into him but the mechanism looked rusted and old, which gave me some hope.

"We can try to unscrew this." I turned my face as I pointed at one particular screw that seemed to be piece of what was holding the trap together, when I bumped into Newt's nose. It took me a moment to recover after I found his eyes had darted away from the screw I was pointing to and had landed on my face, in particular my lips.

"Um." I mumbled more to myself than to him as he leaned ever so slightly closer. I blinked, unsure if I should pull away or lean closer to him but it seemed my body had other ideas as I found myself leaning closer to him.

I blinked again, but this time I felt something touching my lips. He was soft, soft enough that I barely felt his lips brush against mine so I leaned a little closer still, molding my lips to against his. I'm sort of thinking that Newt's lips or just his body in general was electrifying in all the right ways. I turned my head as his hand wrapped around my the back of my head-

"I-I think that'll do it." I declared unceremoniously as I jerked back from him, spinning my head to see the Demiguise stirring slightly.

"Sounds about right." I stood up quickly right as Newt did the same thing, clearing his throat.

Pulling my wand out, I forced a pointed stream to carefully take out the screw. Newt spun around to do grab something right as I heard a clattering of things falling off the desk near us. His clumsiness made me want to smile but I forced it down as I focused on turning my wand enough to take out the screw.

A blush warmed my face and rushed down to my stomach as I realised what just transpired. I kissed Newt. I kissed the guy that was supposed to be my teacher. Oh, Merlin. What have I done?


	17. Chapter 17

_**So! The fun begins with the movie next chapter! Are you excited? I hope so!**_

 _ **As for one review way earlier in this fic, I couldn't figure out a way to pull that classic Newt scatterbrainedness with Ara and I finally figured it out! She may or may not be around for a bit in New York...something to do with Customs but I won't drop any more hints :)**_

 _ **I hope their relationship is still progressing at a realistic speed but I figured I'd throw in Newt's POV so we didn't just get Ara overthinking everything by herself.**_

* * *

I never discussed the kiss with him after we'd freed the demiguise that I'd come to know as Dougal but we certainly didn't have any more problems being very near each other. It was as though we'd unofficially become married, cooking for one another in the mornings and evenings, and looking out for the case as though it were our only child...though I seemed to burn less food than he did.

In all honesty, it was bizarre. Incredibly. Bizarre. And I had no idea what it meant to him or if it even meant anything to him.

Newt and I didn't quite find an appropriate time to actually discuss what we'd done. Things just sort of flowed from one problem to the next, and I didn't really know how to even go about discussing that with him...I don't think he knew how to either.

Sometimes I'd catch him staring at the scars on my shoulder when he was supposed to be writing his book. I knew he felt guilty, that much was obvious when he thought I was asleep or I wasn't looking. But I wasn't sure why he would, I understood that the creatures came first and we were all that was standing in the way of Wizards exploiting them.

It felt like the last two weeks passed us by in an odd emotional blaze that consisted of drawn out silences and sentences that were never finished. Sometimes we'd end up staring at each other with this searching look but I don't think either one of us could force out a word. However, I knew something exciting was going on when our old professor, Albus Dumbledore arrived in Equatorial Guinea about 2 weeks later.

"Ah, Miss Maximae." I stood from where I'd knelt over to inspect a particularly dirty Nundu cub, he looked to be entirely alone in the world with such large eyes. I wasn't even sure how he got here considering they were native to the east coast of Africa rather than central.

"Professor?" I raised a brow, watching the older wizard with suspicion before I knelt back down to the cub. I wanted to check it's age because otherwise, there was a good chance I'd be dying tomorrow of a deadly disease thanks to this little thing. This was the entire reason I was curious about it, no one really knew much about these thanks to the fact that they killed almost everyone who met them.

"What brings you around here?" I'd appreciated his skill in school but he needed something to come all the way out here. The last time I had seen him, he actually enticed me to come find Newt by telling me the exact office in which his brother worked in...he was crafty.

"Ara? Who-" Newt's head popped out of the case, peering at me with his wand drawn until he recognized the professor.

"Ah, perfect. Just the two people I wanted to see." He was happy enough to see us though, a small smile over his bearded face.

"What can I do for you?" Newt came all the way out now and walked over to me, as I looked back at the cub who seemed to be rather taken with me (thankfully)...otherwise I'd be dead. I really needed to watch myself when we were in hot climates, I seemed to do the most idiotic things.

My lips formed a straight line as Dumbledore took another step forwards, and the cub didn't appreciate it. The skin around it's neck puffed up, forming a spiked collar and I stilled my hand as it hissed at him. This little tyke did _not_ like Dumbledore.

Maybe it was the beard? I was starting to think he'd been on his way to be sold when he fell out of the poacher's hands. Whether by accident or death, I wasn't 100% sure and I didn't want to find out.

"Ah, sir. Please stand back over there." Newt noticed right away as I moved back from the cub slowly.

"My apologies. I was hoping to discuss a proposition." Dumbledore stopped in his tracks, raising his hands slowly as if to say he didn't any harm to the cub.

"No worries." Newt nodded, as I glanced over my shoulder at him. I was expecting him to be making eye contact with Dumbledore but he seemed to only be comfortable to do so with me right now.

"And what is this proposition?" I raised a brow, regarding the professor with some amount of curiosity.

"Well, Hogwart's is lacking a proper Care of Magical Creatures book and I'd decided I knew the perfect pair to help such a cause." He resumed his smiling, as though this was supposed to sweeten the offer. We would have taken it even if he was only offering to pay us a single knut total but I did have questions about him already knowing we'd be here together.

"Really?" I raised a brow, studying him for a moment. I was looking for a crack in the facade of where he somehow knew all of this before I did.

"Truly, Miss Maximae." His smile didn't diminish, much to my disappointment. I glanced back down at the feeling of a rough tongue on my fingers, to find the cub had calmed himself down.

"Well...we accept." Newt elected to respond as I paid more attention to the cub than to the wizard. One could kill me while the other wouldn't dare, and that made one significantly more important to me.

"Lovely." Dumbledore declared as I slowly moved my hand out to allow the cub to rub himself against it if he wished too.

"Where are you off too next then?" Dumbledore actually looked excited for us when I'd glanced at him before I turned my attention back to the Nundu cub.

"Possibly South America to see the Peruvian Vipertooth." Newt murmured to the man, I nodded slowly.

"Fascinating." Dumbledore seemed to agree. I wasn't paying much attention to either Wizard right now, instead I was trying not to scream out of excitement that the cub had taken to me so well.

This opened entirely new avenues of study, no one could get this close to a Nundu that hadn't been stunned or killed. They generally grew to be gigantic leopards that moved silently despite their size and whose breath caused diseases that were strong enough to kill off entire villages. Nundus had never been subdued by less than a hundred skilled wizards working together...until now anyways.

"Excuse me." I mumbled as I moved to slowly pick up the cub, I was hoping I could take it to it's new enclosure because otherwise it'd surely perish out here by itself. It wasn't even meant to be in this region, much less as a newborn by its self.

* * *

 _ **NEWT POV.**_

In some part of my head, I knew I should have been paying more attention to Dumbledore but I couldn't force myself to drag my eyes away from Ara as she slowly scooped up the cub. The witch had me enthralled in some manner as she carefully made her way down the ladder, I watched her go down until the blonde wisps of her hair were finally out of view.

"Mr Scamander?" I realised that Dumbledore was attempting to speak to me, gaining some of my attention.

"Hm?" I glanced back at him, choosing to move my eyes to the side of his head out of habit. Eye contact was something I didn't enjoy with most people, their eyes were just simply uninteresting to me. They could speak, so why would they need to see my eyes? Creatures communicated with their eyes, and I had to see them to be able to understand them.

"I was wondering how you and Miss Maximae had gotten along." He repeated whatever he'd said as I glanced between him and my case, waiting for Ara to return.

"We get along well." I mumbled to him, I appreciated the offer but I was more concerned with my companion.

She was careful with the creatures and she cared about them as I do, it was a fresh breath of air compared to most muggles and wizarding folk. Sometimes I considered that the only reason she'd gotten so close was because she took the time to understand me, just like she had with our creatures. Unfortunately, however, I never found the right moment to discuss our...connection with her.

"I am happy to hear that." I forced my eyes back to the side of his shoulders when I heard her muttering to the Niffler she'd named Aurelius. I'd imagined she was slowly coming back out of the case which gave me some amount of relief. I didn't enjoy letting her out of my sight after she'd been taken in Switzerland.

"So, shall we discuss the terms?" Ara came to stand near me but she wasn't close enough for me to feel her. My eyes swept over her quickly, noting the way she'd kept her hair up in a bun on the top of her head with some twine she'd found a few days ago. She was inventive.

"If possible." I glanced back at Dumbledore who nodded. His eyes told me that he knew more than he let on but Ara cleared her throat, distracting me from focusing on that.

"Uh...right this way." I motioned jerkily back to the case with my hand. I think I liked this better when it was just Ara and I but we could do with any extra income possible. She was inventive but neither of us couldn't create food out of nothing.

* * *

Dumbledore had finally left after we'd all signed a contract he already brought with him, which left just Ara and I again. I enjoyed the time with her best but I wanted to talk to her about the fact that I'd kissed her. She made it difficult and I was starting to think she'd master the ability to distract me in our time together.

"Ara...I-" I started to try and speak to her again when she hissed.

"Aurelius, calm down. Its just a cut, silly." The sound forced my head to jerk over to her at the preparation table, the Niffler had begun clicking in a panic as she held her hand.

"What did you do?" I mumbled as I practically ran to her, grabbing her hand to inspect the damage. She hurt herself often enough that I'd stopped having a near stroke but that didn't mean I enjoyed it.

"I was just cutting up the ham but my hand slipped." She seemed apologetic enough as I leaned closer, eyeing the nicely sized chunk of her finger that was missing and the blood was slowly dripping from it.

"You-you need to be more careful." I sighed, looking up at her face with the intention to lecture her somehow. My eyes strayed to the remains of when I'd been too careless with her, the three scars stretched over her neck and shoulder. I tried my best but the wound's were contaminated with magic to the point she'd always have those scars.

"Its not like I _try_ to slice myself up." Her whine came off as a petulant child, forcing a smile out of me as I laughed a little but my eyes wandered back to the scars.

"I should hope not." I nodded, staring into her eyes again.

"You know, I don't blame you for them." Her voice was so quiet I almost wanted to ask her to say it again but I didn't. I just stared at her for a little longer.

"I promise." She seemed to find me amusing as she smiled at me, squeezing the hand I was still holding. The sharp cry from Frank, distracted me once again which reminded me that I needed to tell her about the side trip to America before we'd be on our way to Peru.

"We won't be going to Peru immediately." I started with my eyes darting around the room for something to wrap around her hand before she sealed it up herself. She was talented in more ways than one...stop that, Newt. Thats improper to think of her right now, she didn't give you any evidence of such intentions with you.

"Why not?" She sounded like she had a feeling it just wouldn't be that simple anyways. She knew me too well. Ah! A clean rag, perfect.

"Its time that Frank got back to his home." I declared, grabbing the rag and wrapping it tightly around her hand. It fascinated me that no matter how closely I worked with her, I was always taken back at how soft her skin was.

"You're right." She sighed a bit, making me wonder what was going through that head of hers when I realised I still hadn't let go of her hand.

"Ara, we need to just talk about the..." I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't force myself to say kiss and i'd started off so strongly.

"Kiss." She finished quietly for me, I nodded with my lips pressed together. I was nervous, I wasn't sure if I should apologise for forcing that on her or if she'd found it enjoyable. I was too distracted by the feeling of her that I couldn't even recall if she'd returned it. I opened my mouth to say something else when her attention left me and she bent down, taking her hand with her. Of course.

"What is it?" She was speaking to the Niffler again. I eyed the little bugger with a small amount of annoyance as he clicked at her, I realised he was fond of her but I needed to talk about this with her, I needed to know what it really meant to her.

"I'm fine, see?" Ara held out her hand to him as he inspected it. The Niffler seemed to eye me for a second before speaking to her again in way that only Ara understood. It was fascinating but irritating at the same time.

"Honestly, he wouldn't just let me keel over." My eyes searched over her figure again in some attempt to understand her feelings towards me. She didn't seem repulsed by me, if anything she was just as comfortable to sleep near me like she was before. We'd spent a week together in this workshop while we'd tracked down another Erupment only for her to find a Nundu cub. I was starting to feel like danger was attracted to her every move.

India wasn't my favourite destination by any means, I didn't appreciate the muggle that had offered us his help. He paid too much attention to her and when we'd finally found him back at the village the next day, he was _too_ concerned for her well-being despite me claiming to be her husband. I felt like I needed to establish some sort of dominance, like he'd been dabbling too close to what was my territory. Though I was happy we'd found the Occamies when we had, otherwise I feared that they'd have been taken by the bloody Americans.

"Right so. Off to America in the morning then?" She raised a brow, watching me as I realised I'd let my thoughts run away with me again. I glanced at the Niffler who had found a comfortable spot on her shoulder and was watching me as well.

"Right." I murmured. I found myself being sucked back into her eyes and vaguely wondered if she learned to do that to me or if it was just an innate talent of hers.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Oh my gosh. I still can't believe how much this story took off! Thanks to all my wonderful followers/reviewing people. You guys know who you are and don't think I don't read them. You've reviewed almost every chapter I've put out which honestly, is why this chapter is out right now!**_

 _ **In fact, you guys are the reason I've joined up with the BallyCastle Bats team for something called The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition but I did it by accident under my other profile, Mister Evil. Theres a forum there which you'll often find me chatting with the others on my team in the Changing Room for the Bats.**_

 _ **If you ever get a chance or you're just bored, I have a bit of a horror story called "**_ _ **Silence is Golden"**_ _ **on Mister Evil that was actually written for the competition's prompt of writing about a creature I've never written with before...I almost did the Niffler. Can you just imagine the cuteness?**_

 _ **Thank you again everyone. Seriously! Thank you so much.**_

* * *

"Miss, please." A rather tall gentleman waved me forwards to take his seat.

"Oh, I'm okay to stand." I waved him off with a forced smile as I felt Newt's eyes on the side of my face.

"I insist. A lady shouldn't have to stand." It was kind but I didn't think it was a great plan to take the seat considering that Newt's case wouldn't stop opening itself again. I felt like I was back in the same boat from when we'd just started this adventure though this time I had a feeling the Niffler trying to get out was more interested in taking his customary spot in my pocket.

"Um..." I searched my mind for a reason as to why I'd be hanging off the side of this boat with a tall gentleman and his suitcase. "I get rather sick on these so I'd really like to just stand over here." I finished slowly, attempting to act like I really was nauseous.

"Oh! I'm sorry." He seemed taken aback that I'd even say I got sea-sick. Right, I wasn't around just Newt anymore, gentleman expected me to be lady-like. I think I'd actually forgotten that was a thing until now. Suddenly all those looks from the customs officials in England made a lot more sense now. We'd apparated back to the last place I could remember a ship heading for America and that was England's port.

"You know, I think I forgot what you looked like without a bit of dirt on your face." Newt's voice was quiet compared to the sounds of the waves and seagulls surrounding us but it made me chuckle.

"Right? I forgot how much I hate having my hair down too." I snorted but regretted my choice of words almost immediately. I didn't dare to look at Newt who I imagined took this to heart. The only reason that I had to leave my hair curled neatly around my shoulders was because of the scars. They attracted all sorts of suspicious glances and pitying looks. I hated them all enough to just not put my hair up, no matter how much my neck was sweating under it.

The case snapped open again as soon as land was in sight, making me kneel down to somehow scold Aurelius without attracting attention. I was about to just yank him out of there and be done with it but I wasn't wearing a jacket with enough space for him. This one was form fitting as it was one of my nicer pieces and the little bugger refused to travel with Newt for some reason.

"Stop it!" I chastised him in a whisper. A second later, I heard some annoyed clicking that me feel like he was grumpy about this and he felt shouldn't be in there with the rest of the creatures.

"Yes, you will come out soon but we need to get away from muggles first." I whispered to him again, glancing around to make sure no one saw me talking to a suitcase. Another round of clicks came as if he was saying he wanted out now.

"You can't just come out whenever you want! Theres rules and regulations and thats the end of it." I reminded him before I snapped the case shut again. More people began to gather near the railing as we came closer to New York so I took Newt's hand calmly and led to the seats that had been abandoned now.

We'd sat for some minutes in a comfortable silence before I realised I was still holding his hand and immediately dropped it. Maybe it wasn't the hot climates that had my brain seeping out of my ears, perhaps it was just me. Being around Newt Scamander made me think less about what I was doing and that felt a touch dangerous.

A buckle popped open on his case again but this time I didn't hear any clicking, rather I heard the sounds of Dougal whose favourite was definitively Newt. That meant I didn't have to snap it shut this time and he knew it too, picking up the case after he'd pressed the piece back down.

* * *

"Passport?" I handed my passport to the tall american man with a small smile, hoping I looked as harmless as possible. Newt had made it past these American customs agents with a bit of ease, though he'd had to show off his case which made me break into nervous sweats. At first he stopped right after he'd passed, appearing to wait for me when I tried to motion for him to continue on so we wouldn't draw any more attention

"Irish?" He raised a brow, drawing my attention back to the agent.

"Yup." I nodded quickly, watching Newt's blue coat disappear into the crowds. It made my anxiety raise as he was essentially the only person I'd been around for the last few months.

"First trip to New York?" He continued his questioning as I ran my hands through my hair, trying to alleviate some of the sweating on my neck and back.

"It is." I nodded again, hoping this would be over soon and forced myself not to play with my hands.

"What happened there?" His tone was gruff as he nodded to the right of me. I raised a brow as I looked down, noticing that I'd idiotically shifted my hair away from my shoulder. I'd left the very tips of the scars on my upper-body uncovered.

"Uh...bit of run in with a-a feral cat." I declared unceremoniously. I was silently cursing myself with all my heart. Why didn't I wear a shirt that covered my shoulders entirely?

"Uh huh. You carrying anything edible in there?" He motioned to my little back as he handed my passport back to me.

"Oh this little thing? I can barely fit my hand in here." I laughed loudly, a bit _too_ loudly. What are you doing, Ara? Are you trying to get tossed out on your arse?

"Mhm." He nodded slowly, eyeing the purse for another second. Why was this man so bloody suspicious?

"Any other luggage?" He seemed to glance around my figure as if trying to see that I'd somehow hidden a giant box of bombs up my arse.

"Nope." I shook my head.

"Welcome to New York Miss." He nodded, allowing me to pass. I gave him a small smile as I slipped past and started searching for the head of blonde hair that I'd come to know so well. Newt was rather tall but it seemed nearly impossible to see him right now so I continued on, picking a random direction and searching until I found myself at an exit.

I glanced around again and found him no where. Panic was starting to set in as I took the largest street I could find and hurried down it. Were there multiple exits? Which one had he taken? How was I supposed to find him again? This was giant city!

I traveled along streets upon streets with signs I didn't recognize and people that couldn't give less of a toss about me. I'd almost given up hope entirely until I heard a bell ringing...an alarm bell that _wasn't_ in my head so I followed the sound until I came upon an intimidatingly large building with a giant **Steen National Bank** engraved in the stone.

I swallowed heavily, the thought of my Niffler running through there and having a bloody field day. I stood in front of it for a second watching the chaos unfold before my eyes. Police were sectioning off the area and crowds of people had gathered to watch it all go on. I watch a woman in a grey coat run down the stairs as though she was trying to go unnoticed but a bit of blue caught my eye.

I peered at an alley way for a quick second as a heavier bloke almost ran out of the alley until he noticed me watching him. I eyed him as he came to a more casual pace, going past me into the crowd. Suspicious, yes, but he was no Niffler. I watched as the woman in the gray coat began going down the apparently popular alley and almost lost interest until I spied the familiar face of my Newt.

"NEWT!" I almost screamed his name, making him stop for a moment and look around until he noticed me. I began pushing through people to try and get closer to him while he smiled at me. He stopped right as the woman touched his arm and suddenly they were gone. I stopped suddenly, a cold fear rushed through my veins. I'd _just_ found him and this-this bloody bitch had apparated away with him.

That just simply wouldn't do.

I began pushing past people, trying to see where on earth they'd gone with a fury that matched a bloody Hungarian Horntail. I was going to find him and when I did, I was going to punt his arse across America. Or at least scream at him for a quick minute...probably. I just really needed to find him. I paused as a small jet of light rose above the building next-door to the bank and practically ran for it, hoping it was Newt.

I ran near the building, running my hand along it and ignoring the stares from passer-bys until I spotted another alley and promptly dashed down that one. The same woman was earlier was speaking rapidly to someone in the corner and I wasted all of 0 time to push myself into her conversation to check who it was.

"Merlin!" I was almost screeching as I almost butted heads with Newt who looked happy but startled to see me.

"Ara, I-" He seemed to try and get some word in but I wasn't letting that happen, I was so worried about him.

"What on earth do you think you're doing disappearing like that?" I was really angry but I was more relieved to see him.

"I-" He started but I held up a hand and spoke again.

"No! Do you have any idea how worried I wa-" I was about to chew him out more as I kissed him without thinking and choose to pull him to me in a tight hug quickly after I realised what I'd done, but the same bitch from before cut me off.

"Who are _you_?" She looked absolutely bewildered to see me as I slowly let him go to narrow my eyes at her, all awkwardness at the fact I'd just kissed the man yet again was gone in a flash.

"Who in the bloody hell are _you_?" I raised a brow, watching her expression twist from confusion to exasperation as she shook a piece of plastic at me. I glanced down at it, quickly noticing the symbol and scoffing at the fact we'd been here for less than an hour and we'd already had a run in with the law. She was apart of the MACUSA. Terrific.

"What the bloody hell did you do?" I spun back to Newt who had the decency to look slightly ashamed this close to my face.

"He let something loose in the bank at a _very_ bad time!" She answered for him, irritating me a bit. I'd calmed down now that I'd found him again but I still didn't like her one bit.

"Your Niffler." He sighed, moving back from me to see the case was nearly open now, a rapid clicking sound came out of it...but he sounded quite muffled. Confusing since I knew the case to be very much expansive on the inside.

"Why in the name of Deliverance Dane did you let that thing loose? What is it doing now?" She spoke up again sounding panicked.

"Hes...talking." I pursed my lips as I glanced at her, realising the seriousness of the situation. "How did he even get out?" I turned back to Newt, looking for an answer as I snapped the case shut.

"I didnt mean to, hes incorrigible, you see and he was mad, anything shiny, hes all over the place." Newt exclaimed, waving to the case.

"You didnt mean to?" She seemed to almost scoff at that.

"No." Newt repeated, shaking his head.

"You could not have chosen a worse time to let that creature loose!" She almost stomped her foot as she spoke, I took a step back and sighed. I should have known Aurelius would have some sort of a tantrum without being let out.

"Im taking you in." She declared, shaking her head as she put away her badge.

"Youre taking me where?" Newt raised a brow, glancing between my face of shock and her.

"Magical Congress of the United States of America." She explained, still shaking her head.

"Are you serious? So what? A Niffler got out and found something shiny, its what they do!" I wrapped my arm around Newt's refusing to let her take him.

"What are you, some kind of investigator?" Newt was bewildered right now, I could tell from the way his brows were knitted together.

"Can you please tell me you took care of the No-Maj?" She paused for a moment, looking guilty but ignored his question almost entirely. This raised several alarms in my head but she still had the badge which meant she had some sort of power.

"The what?" Newt and I were both confused at the moment, asking the same thing at the same time.

"The No-Maj! No-magic... the non-wizard!" She was very animated in her explaination, like she couldn't believe that we didn't know what a 'No-maj' was.

"Oh, sorry, we call them Muggles." Newt supplied the irate witch with his answer but he did so slowly. I wasn't nearly as eloquent, instead I continued to simply stare at her incredulously.

"You wiped his memory, right? The No-Maj with the case?" She seemed to just get even more irritated and huffy as we glanced at each other then shook our heads, I was more surprised she hadn't tried to take me away for being so bloody rude.

"Thats a Section 3A, Mr. Scamander. Im taking you in. Come on." Oh jeeze, I spoke too soon.


	19. Chapter 19

_Dangerous Cheese : It was a miscommunication, one that I think Ara mentions but I'm not 100% sure! _

_TheWonderfulShoe : It does indeed, and the amount they didn't care for Vishnu all went into caring about Dougal and the little Occamy eggs :) _

_**This all in Newt's POV and next chapter might be too if you guys are interested!**_

 _ **Let me know :)**_

* * *

I waited on my Ara to show up from the doorway next to me for about five minutes, tapping my foot. I decided she'd gotten lost or distracted by something else and forced my way past the flow of people to get back into the building with a few annoying clicks of the Niffler.

It took me about 15 minutes to search through the building before I drew too much attention to myself by a suspicious security guard, and figured out that there were a total of 8 exits. Again, I found myself stuck between her safety and the safety of my creatures but she was ever so slowly winning that match as I pushed past people on the street now, not really caring if they were bothered by it.

She didn't know it, but I loved every second with her when we were alone even though I tripped over every word when she looked at me. I hated having to come back to civilised society and act as though we were merely traveling companions or something. She felt free and happy when it was just us, I wanted that to last forever but...obviously it wasn't meant to be considering we'd gotten separated within the first hour of being in said civilised society.

"Excuse me, trying...-Watch it!" I blinked twice as a heavier man's shin bounced off my case, forcing me to stop in the midst of a crowd to pick it back up again. I glanced at it's snaps quickly to make sure nothing had popped open. The Niffler didn't know quite yet, that I'd lost track of his favourite witch, and I was intending on finding her before he could find out.

"So sorry, my case." I mumbled trying to sound at least a bit apologetic when in reality, I was more nervous than anything as I nibbled on the edge of my lip. There were a few too many people here for my liking and none of them were Ara.

"No harm done. Excuse me!" He paid me little attention, continuing to push through people with my eyes on his back.

"You, friend! What drew you to our meeting today?" A sharper voice dragged my attention away from the presumed muggle to another, far more irate one. I glanced at her warily, watching the way she pointed a flyer out towards me but didn't take it.

"Oh... I was just passing." I nodded with a mindless half smile, spanning the crowd as I tried to spot a bit of blonde hair. She had to be here somewhere, it wasn't as though she was easy to miss despite her height. Quite the opposite really, I could have spotted her from kilometers away.

"Are you a seeker?" I peered at the woman for a second, noting that the way her eyes pinched together in such a stare reminded me of a particularly irate manticore.

"A seeker after truth?" She continued as I glanced away again, I had much more on my mind than her truths.

"I'm more of a chaser, really." I shrugged a bit, holding my case a little tighter. She was taking up a bit too much of my time, and I wasn't entirely glad for it as I stared at her.

"Hear my words and heed my warning. And laugh if you dare. Witches live among us!" I realised she'd been speaking to me and felt rather rude but, a small grubby little paw caught my attention as it slunk towards a man's hat. You have got to be kidding me. This was why I couldn't go anywhere without Ara, her bloody Niffler took off the moment I looked away from him.

"We have to fight together for the sake of our children, for the sake of tomorrow! What do you say to that, friend?" My eyes immediately darted towards my case to see one latch had been popped open and grimaced when I glanced back at the Niffler to see it stuff a bundle of coins into it's pouch. She was going to maim me.

"Excuse me." I bobbed my head to the woman after a moment of debate whether or not I could actually leave the pest to it's urges for once and elected I could. I pushed past, stalking after the tiny fiend with a quick step. I attempted to see all of the stairs and building with my head spinning from side to side but I'd practically lost him, almost bumping into people as I did so.

"Can I help you, sir?" I was almost startled by a man who eyed me with suspicion, I realised where I was in that moment. A bloody bank. Of all the places I had to lose the Niffler, it was a bank.

"No, I was just..." My eyes quickly looked off the to side one more, trying to spot a bit of black fur and an excuse. "Just...waiting." I plopped onto a bench, giving the employee a half smile as I sat my case down next to me. I was trying not to bring any more attention to myself than I had already, this was taking too much time. Ara could be anywhere by now, just as lost as I was but she didn't have to deal with a Niffler...honestly this wouldn't have happened if she'd been here.

"Hi. What brings you here?" At first, I didn't realise that the muggle had been speaking to me while I twisted and turned to spot the pest.

"Same as you..." I nodded, a bit distracted when I recognised the same man from before. The one that had bumped into me before the odd anti-witch muggle had begun shouting at me.

"Youre here to get a loan to open up a bakery?" His tone was confused but I paid little mind to him.

"Yes." I breathed, getting annoyed with him. I leaned back after giving him a forced smile and spotted something that might have been the Niffler. Finally!

"What are the odds of that? Well, may the best man win, I guess." He stuck out his hand and as much I hated to do this, I jumped up and attempted to stalk the pest once more, but this time I wasn't letting him get away.

"Excuse me." I mumbled to the brown-haired muggle as I snatched up my case to go around the bench in some hope that I'd alleviate some of my rudeness. I chased after the Niffler for a good five minutes, watching purses and particularly shiny buckles or jewelry. I knew from experience that the blasted thing had some sort of fondness for earrings.

I found a place in line, watching one woman with large diamond and gold earrings two places ahead of me. It seemed like she'd be the type he'd run after but as my eyes darted around her figure and her bag, I couldn't see a speck of black fur. I was at a near loss until I heard the tell-tale sound of change hitting the floor and turned towards it.

Ah hah! Grubby little paws were trying to force coins back into it's pouch from under a bench. I moved slowly in some effort not to scare it away until a small dog barked, forcing me to jump into action and peek under the bench. In the back of my mind, I knew I was coming off a bit of a mad man when I watched the bloody thing run along the top of the fence that separated the back area from the front of the bank with an open mouth.

Come. On.

I darted over to the gold fence, pressing my face up against it to watch as the Niffler sat on the bottom shelf of a cart rolling past. I glared as it shoved coin after coin away with gleeful clicks. It seemed to notice me, turning around to glare and mark it's territory by leaning over the coins as if it was saying I couldn't some how take all of those away. It was incredibly wrong.

Taking a few steps back, I began to look all over for some way to get behind the obstacle and not draw too many eyes to myself. It was entirely locked up, one door on the other side near an elevator that was currently taking down the cart and a deliriously happy Niffler downstairs with it. There were stairs, meaning I could actually just run down those and ca-

"Hey, Mr. English guy! I think your egg is hatching." A shout grabbed my attention, forcing me to drop the thought and focus on one of our Occamy eggs in the hand of the same muggle I'd dashed off on earlier. Today was not my day, apparently. A ding dragged my attention back to the elevator doors as the closed and I elected that this was warrant enough for me to pull out my wand.

I frowned, whipping my wand around to drag the man to me and apparate to the stairs I'd just seen. He slammed into my body with some loud groaning as I opened my eyes once more at the crackling sound. I stuck my wand into my mouth and almost smiled as Ara's warning of; " _You're going to blow your jaw off one day, doin' that.''_ ran through my head.

A piece of the egg fell away to reveal a small little purple and blue beaked head that called for my attention. I turned to my partner, a smile started but stopped when I remembered this wasn't Ara and she'd missed it's birth.

"What? What just happened? But... Excuse me... I was... over there. I was... over there?" The man was merely confused, not quite realising the beauty of what was happening in front of him so I began walking once more to slip the little beauty into my case. It was disappointing really, the one person that would have been just as amazed as I was, wasn't here because I'd bloody lost her.

"In you hop..." I knelt down, popping the case open to be greeted by several different creatures at once as I gently laid the egg into Dougal's outstretched hand. Chattering started up excitedly, making me shake my head.

"No. Everyone settle down. Stay. Dougal, dont make me come in there." I'd already had the Niffler out of the case and with the level of chaos he'd caused I couldn't possibly allow anyone else to come out for a stretch. I slowly closed the case once again after I'd made sure everyeone's fingers and toes weren't about to be crushed but stopped at the soft squeaking of Pickett. I glanced down at him to see what his fuss was over and noticed he'd been pointed in front of us with a leafed stem.

"Absolutely not!" I snapped the case shut as I watched the fat little Niffler squeeze itself through a gap and into the bank's main vault.

"Alohomora." I stood, holding my wand out with my case in hand and opened the vault.

"Oh, so youre gonna steal the money, huh?" My head swiveled back, realising that not only had I involved one muggle, it was now two. Perfect. Ara was definitely going to main me now...if I could find her.

A loud ringing sound made me jump, he'd hit some sort of alarm for robbery which he was honestly right to do. Ara's bloody Niffler had likely stolen half the Bank's funds by now but I still needed to get out of here. I waved my wand back over to the other muggle with little interest as the bank door began to swing open.

"Petrificus Totalus!" I'd deal with him later, or possibly never if I could get out of here fast enough.

"Mr. Bingley!" I heard the muggle but I wasn't very focused on him, racing to get inside the vault before too much damage had been done.

"Really?" I scoffed as I stopped, eyeing the Niffler who stared at me in defiance as it slowly slid an _entire_ bar of gold into it's pouch. I darted up a step and snatch the little bugger who was too weighed down to get away from me in time and hung him upside by his feet.

"No..." I shook my head as he tried to wiggle his way out and began tickling his stomach in some attempt to get him to relax enough for the stolen bits to fall out. It was as though magic was happening before my eyes as a shower of gold bars, jewels, shoe buckles, coin and the odd earring or two fell to the ground with a metallic clatter.

"Look at that. Look, what would Ara think of that?" I tsked, shaking him a bit more as he attempted to bend back up again to stop the flow of valuables, all the while clicking with mad laughter. When the flow finally ceased, he seemed very much a mixture of annoyed but defiant still as he crossed his arms and clicked grumpily. I shook my head at him, kneeling back down to stuff him back into the case before he caused any _more_ trouble than he already had.

"Oh no... No, no, no" I stood again, scrambling to get all my things and secure my case before wrapping an arm around the distraught muggle. He had good reason to be worried, guards had finally taken notice of the alarm and were pulling out their weapons. I had to act fast, Merlin knows that she might forgive me for the Niffler but I doubt she'd find mercy for me getting shot due to my own thoughtlessness.


	20. Chapter 20

_**Hi all!**_

 _ **Sorry for the giant span in time between updates! But, I'm here now?**_

 _ **Also, sorry Guest (the one from Sept. 21st)! There's only ever been 19 chapters since I last posted though I'm sort of flattered that you'd noticed my story earlier in the summer and came back to it. :) **_

_**Alsoalso, this will follow the movies mainly just for the same villain, places, and some people. Ironically, I've discovered that the film actually only covers two days...yes. The entire first film starts and ends in two days! I was a little thrown by that considering that Tina and Newt seem to be seriously crushing on each other and to be fair, there's a lot that happens in those two days, but! That does feel a little rushed for anything romantic with such an awkward guy.** _

_**As its only 2 days, I'm imagining that the movie will be covered within 5-10 chapters.**_

* * *

The Niffler had continued to sound rather unhappy and impatient with us as the witch led Newt and I to wherever their headquarters was. I'd tried opening it to let him out, or at least talk to him but I'd gotten only a single snap undone before the case had been whisked out of my hands by the MACUSA woman.

I stared at all the glamour that accompanied their government's main building when we got here. I was surprised at the sheer amount of work put into it at a cosmetic level and at the number of people in here. It reminded me a little of St Mungo's but in a more political fashion with the giant clock looking contraption whose hands pointed towards an orange block that read "Severe: Unexplained Activity," spooky.

What was really spooky was the gigantic portrait of an olive toned woman with a serious look despite the white blonde curls around her face. She stood imposingly above everyone, watching all the activity with her hands clasped on her stomach in an elegant fashion. She'd had rings on every finger, and purple nail polish to match the outlandish headdress she had atop her head. A large gold plaque read out the words: Madam President Seraphina Picquery.

"Who are they?" I pointed at the statues on top of columns, not recognising any of the individuals who all stood imposingly with their wands drawn in various duelling positions. There was a lot going on in the room statue-wise, including a few women in pilgrim-like attire and a small girl whose expression reflected terror back at me. Merlin, this was a depressing place.

"Don't worry about them, alright?" Well, shite, shame on me for making conversation then. I raised my brows and muttered an obscenity under my breath as Newt and I followed the woman up the stairs.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a disgruntled Goblin spoke up out of no where, "where to?" The goblin sat on a stool, eyeing us all with derision as he adjusted his glasses back up his rather large nose.

"Major Investigation Department." The agent nodded at the Goblin, not paying him much mind.

He looked rather surprised though, "I thought you was-"

"Major Investigation Department! I got a Section 3A!" The irate witch snapped, nodding at the Goblin roughly while we all attempted to fit inside the metal cage. At least I wasn't the only one getting shouted at?

My gaze wavered between the witch who wouldn't make eye contact with me and the goblin who shrugged off her tone. He remained seated and used a long clawed stick to reach an elevator button above his head. Something was off here, I wasn't sure what just yet but there was definitely _something_ wrong. I pursed my lips as the elevator began to descend with a metal creak.

No one said anything during the ride nor when we got off of it in a chaotic huddle. The stupid witch kept nudging us along down empty hallways with nothing but dim lighting under we came upon a rather foreboding black door. So this was definitely a government building, which meant she hadn't just taken us somewhere to kill us, but nonetheless I still shared a nervous look with Newt.

He hadn't said much of anything on our way here, and I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. He was often quiet when it was just us but we did have a third party that kept sticking her nose into everything.

"Now don't say a word unless _I_ give the say so." I eyed the witch's wand when she'd pulled it out and waved it over the handle, opening the door through which all of us went through.

"Right." I mumbled haughtily while Newt and I followed her down yet another bloody hallway.

Finally we came to a large room that thankfully appeared to be very official looking despite all of the Gothic panelling and ornate golden columns. The walls were lined with wooden cabinets whose drawers were likely filled with past investigation files.

In the centre of the room there was a large meeting table surrounded by wooden chairs around which several imposing and unhappy people stood near. I blinked at the woman who I'd recognized as the Madam President from her giant portrait in the lobby.

"I made your position here quite clear, Miss Goldstein." She sounded like she'd been angry but years of being in politics gave her the ability to contain her anger, unlike me.

Ah hah. Miss Goldstein was a bit of a pest to her bosses, and maybe she'd even _have_ to let us go. You know, out of all the MACUSA employees to be arrested by, I think that Goldstein was the best. No one took her very seriously it seemed, which meant no one took the people she arrested very seriously.

"Yes, Madam President, but I—" Goldstein shifted on her feet, appearing rather bashful as she was cut off.

"You are no longer an Auror." Madam President was tetchy, good. Means we'd get out of here easier.

"No, Madam President, but—" She tried again, but didn't get very far. "Goldstein," her boss was short with her but somehow she thought it best to try yet again. "There's been a minor incident—"

"Well, this office is currently concerned with very major incidents. Get out." I supposed that we'd been officially dismissed and I turned on my heel to exit the room with a bit of bounce in my step.

"Yes ma'am." Goldstein had lost all of her superiors attention except one, apparently. When I looked over my shoulder for Newt, I saw a man whose face was bruised and scratched stare at her with sympathy in his eyes.

We'd followed the slightly embarrassed witch down another set of hallways until we came upon a place that was the wand permit office. It'd appeared to be only slightly larger than a cupboard with piles of unopened wand applications.

Our guide stopped behind a desk, removing her coat and hat. I supposed that she was trying to regain what was lost of her authority in front of us by busying herself with paper at her desk.

"So, you guys got your wand permits? All foreigners have to have them in New York." Is she serious right now? I glanced at Newt as my mouth fell open slightly to find him rather bemused looking.

"I made a postal application for both of us weeks ago." I'm about 90% sure that Newt was lying through his teeth right now, but I wasn't about to tell her the truth.

I hated paperwork with a fiery passion so I just nodded along with him when she'd glanced up at us with a suspicious look, "Scamander..." Her head tilted slightly. "And you were just in Equatorial Guinea?"

"We were." I spoke up this time, attempting to sound confident enough to calm her doubts.

"We've just completed a year in the field. I'm writing a book about magical creatures." Newt gave her an explanation which was more truthful than I was particularly comfortable with.

"Both of you? What are ya?" She leaned back in her seat, "husband and wife team out in the wild?"

She was scoffing at us and while I wasn't very fond of her tone right now, I panicked a bit over the idea of us being married. "No! Uh, no marriage here."

I laughed, "just two friends, well just a student," I pointed at myself, "and teacher." I turned my finger to Newt who was watching me with a furrowed brow.

His eyes told me that he was upset with the depiction I'd given Goldstein, but I didn't know what else to do. It'd take her ages to find an application in this but finding a marriage record couldn't take much more than asking someone for a copy of it over the phone. We didn't wear any rings and we had incredibly different last names.

"Who are you then?" She snorted, eyeing only me with suspicion now.

"Ara Maximae." I nodded slowly, wondering if it'd been a better plan to just call myself his wife. Seemed like me speaking up just roused more suspicions in her head.

"So, this book..." her eyes drifted between us, "is it like—an extermination guide?" Her brow raised and I stood a little taller at that, mildly offended.

"No. A guide to help people understand why we should be protecting these creatures instead of killing them." Newt's tone stayed rather neutral, and I focused on that in an attempt not to look him in the eye right this second.

"Tina?" Everyone's head turned to stare at the newcomer inside Goldstein's tiny office. He was the same bloke from the investigations room, the one with all the cuts and bruises.

"Mr. Graves, sir, this is Mr. Scamander—he has a crazy creature in that case and it got out and caused mayhem in a bank, sir." She was excited to see this Mr Graves, which didn't give me the best feeling in the world. I was hoping that she'd get tired of trying to hold onto Newt and I but now that he was here, she might actually get to arrest us. Damn it.

Graves stared at Newt before his eyes turned to me and I swallowed as he nodded, "let's see the little guy."

I took a step forwards as Goldstein hauled up the case from where she'd left it on the ground and slammed it theatrically onto her desk. A sudden onslaught of angry and panicked clicking came from within, making me reach out towards it in worry.

"Uh-" Newt spoke up suddenly, sounding nervous, but it didn't matter much as Graves waved a dismissive hand at him. Goldstein threw open the lid as I reached her desk, I tried to prepare myself for the sounds of multiple irate creatures from the aghast look at it's contents.

"Wha-" My brow furrowed at the sudden silence that quickly turned into a scene of panicked chaos as I spotted a black furry creature launch itself towards Goldstein and her boss.

"HELP!" Goldstein was shrieking and attempting to smack my Niffler off of her, "HE'S GOT A RABID RAT IN THERE!" I couldn't stand the vaguely amusing sight of the once confident witch freaking out for very long, out of fear that she might actually hurt him or that he'd bite her.

"Oh, Merlin." I mumbled, going around the desk in a mad dash to grab up the Niffler, "hold still. Just bloody-HOLD STILL!" I started out rather calm but she kept backing up from me as Aurelius continued to try to scratch her and snap at her fingers when she tried to grab him.

After the second time I'd tried and failed to grab him when she'd fallen backwards, "AURELIUS!" I stamped my foot out of frustration. "IF YOU DON'T STOP IT RIGHT THIS BLOODY INSTANT, I-" I sucked in a deep breath to continue my shouting, "I'LL MAKE SURE NEWT NEVER LETS YOU OUT OF THAT CASE AGAIN!"

With Goldstein sprawled in a nervous mess on the floor and her superior Graves watching from over the desk, the Niffler came to a clumsy stop on her stomach. His head peeked out from under her shirt with a few angry clicks that seemed to tell me 'she deserved it, she shouldn't have scared me.'

"That may be true, but." I crouched down, feeling a little embarrassed at having an audience to scold my Niffler. "We can't just go about trying to bite people's noses off." I lowered my voice but maintained the scolding tone I'd taken on as Aurelius came out from under her shirt to cross his tiny arms.

"What is she doing?" I glanced at Graves who whispered to Newt with a look of confusion, "she's talking to him. What else?" Newt raised a brow before he focused back on us. A wave of embarrassment ran through me as I was reminded once again that it wasn't just Newt and I any more. We truly were back in polite society, and I was quickly becoming the crazy animal lady.

"What's in your fur?" My mouth dropped open again as I took in the sight, forgetting the on-lookers for a moment. The Niffler was covered in fecking powered sugar and there were bits of crumbs mixed with jam matted into his black fur. He clicked at me, in a lazy manner that wasn't reminiscent of someone who was the least bit sorry.

"Ah." I gasped out of pure disbelief that he'd gotten up to this much under Newt's supervision, "you're in so much trouble. You _know_ sweets aren't good for you!" I began shaking my head with a tight angry smile, as I huffed. I was attempting to ignore the look of terror on Goldstein's face while she stared at us with wide eyes.

I heard Newt muttering behind me, "wait 'till you hear what he did at the bank." My eye began to twitch when I stopped myself from snatching the little shite up and giving him a proper scolding without the extra company.

"Come here." I pursed my lips into a thin line while lowering my hand to the floor. The Niffler got up but paused, glancing at me and the walls, as though he was considering just making a run for it.

"You take one step, Aurelius. Just _one_. I dare you." I hissed, clenching my jaw as my thinly veiled threat reached his ears.

His head slowly turned and his beady little eyes stared at me for a moment in thought before he gave me another click. The click was soft as though he was agreeing that it was in his best interest to just accept the amount of trouble he was in as he scurried down her hip and leg before I offered my hand for him to sit in.

"Good." I stood back up, moving away from Goldstein as Graves offered her a hand to help her up. Raising my hand to my shoulder, I waited for him to be secure in the crook of my neck before letting out a deep sigh. "We'll talk later."

I heard a quiet chuckle behind me and recognised it right away, "that includes you, Newt." I turned my head slightly, narrowing my eyes at the freckled man with some might. His chuckles stopped quickly and for once, he actually looked rather nervous which I relished in.


	21. Chapter 21

**Alright, so two fun facts, actually just one! I do enjoy the movie, and I will be finishing the where to find them, though I haven't seen the new Fantastic beasts so there may be a wait for that! And,** **Guest** **, the previous chapter was a continuation of chapter 18 as I didn't continue Newt's point of view.**

 _ **Secondly**_ **I've been slowly starting to feel like maybe Newt would be a little more confident and intense if he were to date someone? By intense I mean a little kinky ;) I'm just not sure as to how he'd be if I were to write that though?**

* * *

"Right so..." Graves raised a brow, glancing between the Niffler and the open case, "I'm not sure why you were so worried, Tina." He almost sighed at her and I watched curiously as her shoulders sagged a touch. Her face was already beet red and I could spot two tiny scratches against her cheek when she turned her eyes towards the floor.

"Sorry, sir." She was silent for a beat and I shifted onto a different foot, hoping this would be over until her head perked up. "Bu-but this _can't_ be the only one! Right?" She leaned across her desk towards us with a wild look in her eye that I raised a brow at. No, it wasn't the only creature we had but I wasn't telling her that.

"I'm assuming you've not come across a Niffler before." Newt spoke up, softly at first but grew a little louder when we all looked at him. "Just one of these little buggers can cause all sorts of mayhem," his declaration forced me to swallow an imaginary lump while he motioned at the Niffler on my shoulder. "Especially in a bank." He's not wrong, per say-but it made me nervous that he'd single out the Niffler.

"Yeah, I can imagine," Graves sighed, turning to me with his hand raised. "Sorry, Miss?" He raised a brow as I gawked at him and his hand, momentarily forgetting that I should probably put my hand in his...I didn't really want too. But I _had_ too, it'd be weird if I didn't.

"Maximae." I slipped my hand into his delicately and bowed my head in greeting to which he did the same with a smile, "Percival Graves, Miss Maximae."

"I apologise for any inconvenience and ask that you don't leave your uh-pet alone any more." In the back of my mind I equated this ritual to the same that Phoenixes did upon meeting a potential mate. Though after they'd bowed their heads, the males often performed a show of sorts to assure the females that they were healthy, strong, and brilliantly endowed with large shiny feathers.

"Of course! Sorry." I attempted to retract my hand but found that his grip had tightened and I found myself feeling a little more uncomfortable.

"If you run into any more trouble, well." He smirked, releasing my hand finally, "you know where to find me."

* * *

I think Newt and I spent maybe an hour more inside MACUSA before we were finally released. It was all fine and good after the awkward little moment where Graves held my hand hostage and Goldstein elected to follow us down the street for a few blocks. We'd ducked into an alleyway so I could finally scold the Niffler as well as get all the jam and powdered sugar out of his fur.

He was decently clean-well as clean as one could get their irritable Niffler to be in one of New York's alleys. He was fussy, and rather startled I'd decided, so it made sense for me to just pop open the case and slip him inside it. He could relax, and not be overstimulated by the bright lights or loud sounds of this city.

Yes, I thought, this was a good idea.

I am a blithering idiot, and my companion's insistence to find the Muggle suddenly made more sense now.

"Ara? Uhm." He cleared his throat as I sucked in my lips to keep from screeching at what greeted me from the case.

"I know you're mad but..." I think I might be having a stroke, right now as I curled my fist and pressed it against my mouth with my eyes narrowing. I'd thrown open the case to find nibbled and half eaten pastries in it, instead of a ladder.

"Mad?" I breathed, uncurling my fist to lean against my hand balanced atop my knee with my pointer and middle fingers pressed against the side of my temple. "I'm not _mad_." I glanced up at him, feeling my lips twist into a leery smile in which I ran my tongue along the bottom of my canines as I considered what to do now.

"You..." His brow furrowed as his gaze followed my tongue, "you're not mad?" I shook my head after slamming the lid shut again and yanking out my wand from it's place against my upper thigh.

If I was about to go running down a Muggle, I wouldn't be doing it in a bloody dress. I sat the Niffler down atop the case and stood again, electing to change now without a care in the world as to who saw me.

"I'm not mad!" I chuckled, waving the larch in a fluid motion up my person, "nope. Not _mad_ at all." I pursed my lips, realising that my voice had hit an unnaturally high octave as the heels and beaded dress replaced themselves with boots, trousers, and a vest over a button up. I eyed the muted greys and black, electing that a simple black coat would due fine in this climate.

I leaned back down, offering my hand to the Niffler, "in you go." I clenched my jaw, sliding him carefully into my jacket's pocket once it'd seemed steady enough for me to rely on. I'd been alright with transfiguration and clothing wasn't that difficult, despite my silent audience at the moment.

"Sure, Ara." Newt's voice was heavier as each piece of clothing disappeared only to reappear, forming themselves to my body at once. I didn't enjoy using magic in the process of getting dressed-not because I felt it should be done manually but because my wand was temperamental and I'd find myself missing a sock or a bra hours later, or a shirt that had reverted back to it's original colour.

I let out a long sigh before I stared back at my oddly endearing companion as he watched me with the look of a man that didn't believe me for a second. I'd slowly noticed that Newt had the most fascinating way of accepting all of my quirks and abrasiveness; still somehow peeking behind the curtain's I needed in place to deal with my emotions daily and not look like a loon.

"Now then, where is the bloody Muggle that's got the case?"

* * *

At first we'd wandered but eventually we came upon a building that appeared to be on the edge of collapsing with a large crowd gathered in front of it. Muggles were shouting and panicked, talking about a gas explosion and I actually almost continued on my stampede of New York up until Newt pulled me back by one of my trouser's belt loops.

"What now?" Okay so I was still a little mad, but I think he'd accepted it, despite the raised brow when I'd hissed at him over my shoulder. I was more or less wondering how he'd managed to slip his hand all the way up my jacket and vaguely wondering where else his hands could slip into. A wave of blood rushed up towards my face as I swallowed and focused on my ears picking up a man's voice.

"It was a hippopotamus! I saw it-" I blinked, feeling my mouth drop open as the man stopped, looking confused, "the hippo-gas...leak. It was another damn gas-leak!" My stare drifted back to Newt who carefully slid his wand back out of sight, I don't always approve of messing with people's minds but-this was necessary.

It took him a total of maybe 30 seconds to start off towards the building, running up the stairs like a madman. Generally, I felt I was rather fit, I could run and jump as well as the next girl but its times like these that I felt just how small I was in comparison to him.

"Wait for me!" I gasped, pushing off of each stair and attempting to fix all the damage behind us at the same time. He stood at a whooping 190 cms while I was a mere 160, I'd realised the actual differences when his legs were able to take the stairs three at a time and I struggled to keep up.

I almost fell onto my face at the top step when I realised that he'd stopped abruptly, "careful." I blinked as I realised that he'd apparently already expected my clumsiness as his arm snaked around my torso before I tumbled.

"Thanks." I nodded at him with my heart thundering after the hike from hell. I felt a blush slowly sneak it's way up my neck and cheeks when we held eye contact, feeling my body decide to extend itself as I got closer to his face without my permission. The feeling of Aurelius' little hands scraping across the fabric against my breast forced a wave of cold realisation across my frame, this fancy of mine was becoming a problem.

"So, this is the guy?" I cleared my throat, roughly pushing myself away from his reach in order to stride towards where I spotted a pair of men's feet and motioned to them.

His throat cleared as well after a moment, "looks like it." I smelled hints of clean laundry, mooncalf pellets, and parchment as he went past me, nodding.

I was struggling with getting a hold of myself, mentally forbidding my girly feelings to just take off without my brain functioning. I'd developed a habit of getting far too close to Newt and I didn't exactly know whether or not he was even interested.

"Hes got a bit of a bite but..." Newt sighed, leaning over the man's tired body, "should be fine." Newt nodded to himself while the man groaned and swatted Newt's hands away from his face drowsily.

I studied him as he dropped the Muggle's case by his feet and snatched up his own, sitting on the bed. "Everyone there?" I raised a brow, not entirely focused on the scene in front of me. This wasn't very fair to him, if anything it was downright awful and with that thought, I promised myself that I wouldn't just suddenly bloody kiss him or grab him any more.

"You two!" I jumped, letting out a short squeak at the sound of an feminine accusation while Newt snapped his case shut. "Cripes, woman! How do you just appear like that?" I groaned, stopping my hand from jerking my wand to jinx the bloody MACUSA agent. She wasn't even an agent any more but they should seriously consider taking her back, like a bloodhound that one.

"What happened?" She was pointing a finger between both of us as I raised a brow, how would her finger make us talk any faster?

"Was that case open? Did the Niffler get out again?" At the mention of the Niffler her head began to swivel while she crouched and pulled her hat farther down on her head, as though she was waiting for it to come sailing for her face from the ceiling.

"No, no. He's in here." I pointed to my breast pocket, at which point Aurelius popped his head out and seemed to give her a beady glare.

He was obviously still rather upset about the whole incident in her office as a series of low clicks sounded off and I chuckled lightly, "he's actually harmless, I swear." She scoffed at that, so obviously having a Niffler basically snarl at her wasn't the best thing if I didn't want her trying to execute him.

"Bada...canning..." I heard groans and mumbled nonsense coming from the collapsed Muggle, and bit my lip when Goldstein dropped to her knees.

"His neck's bleeding, he's hurt! What happened?" She was worried, glancing between us before she turned back to him. "Wake up, Mr. No-Maj..." She tried softly poking his face then his side when he simply moaned again and rolled from her hands.

He didn't answer her at first, sharing a muted look of worry with me before turning his gaze to Goldstein. "Newt." I breathed lowly, taking a step forwards while he stood and attempted to pull me towards the door. We'd gotten an entire step away when Goldstein let out a guttural scream. I spun back around and spotted a fleshy creature with gelatinous quills hanging off it's back before Newt jumped into action.

"No worries!" Newt's grunting and the Murtlap's snarling didn't give his statement the feeling of nothing actually being wrong while he grabbed it by the tail and slid it into the case.

"Mercy Lewis, what is that?" Goldstein gasped, laying against a wall with a hand over her heart and wide eyes.

I cut a look at Newt that screamed we were officially in trouble while he tried to brush off the incident."Nothing to worry about. That is a Murtlap."

My anxiety seemed to jump into over drive as I attempted to map out the case in my head, placing each creature in their habitats up until I found the Murtlap's. He was much farther back from everyone else due to his lack of a mate, it'd made him quite irritable unfortunately. If he was out then that meant several others-particularly the aerial creatures- could be out as well.

* * *

 _ ***SPOILER ALERT***_

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I just found out that Credence's name might actually be _Aurelius_ Dumbledore, are you _kidding_ me right now?


	22. Chapter 22

**To any French readers that might be reading this right now, I wasn't attempting to besmirch France as a whole in chapter 2 when Ara mentioned she really only liked the wine (I promise.)I was more or less trying to give you (the reader) a grasp of her personality, wherein she's unashamedly her: a 23 year old woman who fought during WWI and is attempting to find her place in the world.  
**

 **So, to address this comment explicitly:** "Wow thx for this nice comment on France... Nice to know we don't have culture."

 **Quite honestly, _I_ don't care for France, but that's because I don't like Paris as its one gigantic/expensive tourist trap that's based entirely on French culture. Ironically I adore dead French artists, specifically those in the 16-17th century and I've studied them with extensive enthusiasm. **

**As for cities? Well, Strasbourg is alright, though somehow the streets still smelled like a public restroom and, _God_ the French don't like it when you speak German to them. So, I suppose if I were to give a similar comment as the one made by Ara in Chapter 2, I'd say I'd miss only for the art and wine if France fell off the face of the earth. Otherwise, sorry for offending you  Conifre and I hope you'll give this a chance despite her dismissal of French culture. **

**Enjoy the chapter, and thank you so very very much for reading and reviewing this, guys!**

* * *

"What else have you got in there?" Goldstein attempted to glare us into answering but I found it difficult to care much after I'd just seen her dismissed by her superiors as well as the shriek she'd just let out.

"Nothing interesting." I shrugged quickly, careful to not jostle the Niffler any more than I had already throughout this endeavour.

"You!" I gawked at the Muggle who was still on the floor, if anything I was astounded he'd been able to recognise us considering that his apartment building had been in absolute shambles before we got here. Though, I supposed, _he_ didn't know about him most definitely having lost the security deposit.

He sounded far more threatening than he looked, he'd woken up in the middle of all this and was currently brandishing an accusatory finger at Newt who simply nodded. "Hello."

My eye twitched without my permission when Goldstein's attention immediately went towards the muggle, "Easy, Mr.—uh" She looked back at us as though we'd know his name, I raised a brow and turned my gaze to Newt. I'd expected him to be near the bed and was momentarily confused when my eyes darted back to the blue coat near me, he'd apparently edged closer to my side in the middle of this mess. Is it terribly awful I liked that he had?

"Kowalski." The muggle sat up slowly, groaning and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, "Jacob."

Very Polish if I do say so myself, but I didn't say so because sometimes your thoughts are better left unsaid if they might cause you to linger when you were busy. Instead, I just watched as Goldstein picked up his limp and slightly swollen hand to shake it. "Very nice to meet 'cha Mister Kowalski."

My eyes lingered on Newt's before I tried to subtly nod towards the muggle with the hope he'd get my hint. I was hoping he'd just Oblivate the bloke now and we could get on our way. I mean, I had a terrific brain but it wasn't terrific enough to know if every single creature we'd had was still in his case. I don't think anyone could do such a thing.

I was also hoping that, _maybe_ , because we'd spent so much of our time being constantly around each other for several months...well I was hoping that he'd have figured out most of my expressions by now. I'm difficult to really know, I knew that. Honestly, I rather liked it that way; how could one figure out my next move if I was sometimes reckless and unpredictable? I'd been chastised over the years by peers, co-workers, and friends for keeping them at arms lengt-

Newt gave me a small nod back, interrupting my rambling train of thought and relief flooded through me when he slowly slipped his wand out his sleeve. Every second that ticked by meant that any one of the creatures could be getting closer to their doom, especially if we just continued to dawdle here. Bless Newt for his interesting little quirks and ability to read my difficult face.

I took a large step back towards the door to give him some room, didn't exactly want my own memory of magic to go up in flames, now did I? Newt had raised his wand to do exactly what I'd hoped right as Kowalski looked up and promptly recoiled from us in fear. My head tilted at the Muggle, I was fascinated as he began emitting a sound similar to the kind made by a Nundu cub when searching for it's mother.

Ironically, it seemed Goldstein had answered the call. "You can't Obliviate him!" She moved to cover his body with her own in a protective stance on her knees with her arms spread wide. You know, I don't think I compared humans to animals nearly as often before I'd been around Newt for a while.

"Why not?" I was scoffing, raising a brow at her response before I glanced between Newt and her, "she _did_ just stalk us all the way from MACUSA, right?" I checked, he nodded at me seemingly quite happy with my attitude.

With his support though, I continued on my miniature rant unflinchingly strident, "a _nd_ scolded you for not doing that in the first place?" I pointed between him and her as he nodded, the smallest of smiles graced his lips in the form a nearly imperceptible twitch in the corners. He found this funny?

"We need him as a witness." I scoffed as this was apparently her grand explanation as to why the Muggle couldn't just forget about all of this. After I'd verbally snubbed her, her dismay became twice as overtly incredulous with our lack of compassion for hers and the Muggles current predicament.

"He's hurt! He looks ill!" She moved back a little and motioned to his general person. I scanned him for a moment, giving her benefit of the doubt and found she might be right on the ill front. He did look a bit pale right now so instead of scoffing once more, I settled for sighing and turning back to Newt in hopes he had a better plan than I did.

"He'll be fine. Murtlap bites aren't serious." Newt actually rolled his eyes at her, surprising me while also amusing me. I'm sure it's just the fact that I hadn't eaten today but somehow the look translated as him shouting: 'Ugh. _These_ people and their bleeding. _So_ dramatic' in his head.

He shared another look with me that seemed to sigh, as if he wanted to say he could care less about the Muggle or Goldstein's current prerogative and I had to concur. We were wasting time here but we'd have to play nice if Aurelius was going to make it to Peru in one piece with us. Unfortunately, he'd attacked an American witch, and their laws here were closer to exterminate on sight as opposed to observe and contain.

I watched with pursed lips as Newt put his wand away before I heard the tell-tale sounds of a man puking in the corner of his own flat. My lips curled back out of disgust by their own volition as I pointedly looked anywhere but Kowalski, and I attempted to scream all the fact's I knew about Murtlaps in my head as a distraction while he'd vomited. It was only after the wet sound had stopped, that I turned back to face the MASCUA employee and her male charge.

"Seriously? He'll be _fine_?" Goldstein stared up at us with absolute disbelief and at first, I thought it was silly that she wouldn't believe Newt considering that he was the _only_ expert in his field. But...her expression began making me feel a little uneasy after Kowalski stood back up and fell into his dresser. I observed as he almost knocked it over before his hands gripped it for dear life.

He might actually be very sick, and if he were-well there was no 'were' in this situation, as he _was_ rather ill, we'd likely be held responsible. If he died, I'm about 70% sure that we'd get charged with his death and all of our creatures would be exterminated accordingly.

I looked back at Newt with a hint of panic, "I admit that is a slightly more severe reaction than I've seen," Newt got the panicked message and attempted to down play this fiasco.

"But if it was _really_ serious he'd have..." It'd worked for me until he'd trailed off halfway through his bloody sentence. I didn't know much about muggles and Murtlap bites, to be fair they were incredibly rare. You know how they say ignorance is bliss? I'm sure it is usually, but right now ignorance was only making me feel more het up. We weren't in a place of power here, if anything we were at a severe disadvantage.

"He'd have what?" Goldstein probed, glancing between us. I furrowed my brow, turning to urge my companion until I realised that Newt was staring steadily at me as though I was supposed to know what came after a severe reaction. Unfortunately, I had no clue so I raised a brow at his silence and motioned with my hand for him to continue.

Newt seemed surprised, furrowing his brow at me before he turned back to address the MASCUSA agent. "Well, the first symptom would be flames out of his anus—" I paled at that, and cut in, " _seriously?_ " I gasped, my mouth dropping open when he nodded at me.

After gawking at my companion for a second, I swivelled back to figure out where the Muggle was in this chain of events. Newt appeared to be very serious indeed, and I was edging ever closer to panicking.

Kowalski's hands came up to feel his arse, possibly terrified as well, while I attempted to guesstimate whether or not I was in the line of fire. I eyed his arse and what it was facing before I began shuffling backwards. The amount I moved back was dependent on how hot the flames might be and how much distance they'd cover. Heh, line of 'fire'. I know I'm a child, don't judge me.

"This is balled up!" Goldstein stood up quickly after a moment, appearing rather frustrated but also a touch terrified. She had to be considering she'd eyed his arse and shuffled back from him a little herself.

"It'll last forty-eight hours at most! We can keep him if you want us to—" Newt began as I cut him off quickly with a huff, "we're _not_ keeping him." He paused a moment, allowing my words to digest, before turning to face me.

"What else are we supposed to do here?" Newt gestured to the Muggle with despair and confusion clearly in his eyes.

"I don't know but we're not taking him in!" I snorted at him before I rattled off my retort, gesturing to the Muggle in question as well. I don't think Newt and I'd ever really gotten into a major disagreement before, typically we both did the most logical thing to keep the creatures safe. So...this was a new territory for us, the novelty was evident in how unsure we both were as we faced each other.

I didn't understand how taking Kowalski with us was logical right now. Since I didn't understand it and Newt hadn't explained the benefits, there was no feckin' way we were doing that. It'd be absolutely _mental_ to keep a muggle locked up in the case for two days, he was obviously talented at injuring himself and who knew how much damage he could do if he were left alone with a Nundu or a Graphorn.

I mean, he just-Newt would have to be bloody insane to think we actually could! We obviously lacked the physical capability to keep an eye on him as well as take care of every living thing in there at the same time.

"What do you suggest then?" He scoffed, sounding frustrated now as his voice got a touch louder during our little tiff and I didn't stop to consider his volume before I retorted.

"Again, _I don't know!_ But, we're no-" I'd stopped trying to hide the anger and frustration with this situation in my voice, stopping only one octave below shouting.

"Hello!" Goldstein waved her hand between us, "what?" I snapped at her. The intrusion forced my head to slowly turn towards the sound, just so I could glower at her. She'd have obviously began to lose her mind in front of us, why else would she just yell hello at us in the middle of our discussion?

"Keep him?! We don't keep them!" Goldstein practically shouted at us and I pursed my lips in an attempt to not snap at her again as she ended our disagreement with a scolding finger tutting between Newt and I.

"Really? And here, I thought they were pets." I carped, glowering at her still. "Silly me." I was hoping to piss her off a little and it seemed I'd done just that.

"Agh!" I watched with some sense of morbid gratification as she actually stamped her foot, mumbling under her breath.

I didn't mind if Newt raised his voice; he was more than allowed to in my book, I couldn't even begin to count the number of times he'd had to deal with my screeching. However, _she_ did not, she was just nosy and an annoyingly self-righteous outsider in this equation.

"Look, Mr. Scamander, Miss Maximate-" I held up a hand and corrected her with a tired sigh, "Maximae." I had a feeling I'd be correcting the Americans a lot in the next few days.

She didn't pay me much attention, ""whatever!" Her eyes rolled at me before she continued on her rant, "do you two know _anything_ about the wizarding community in America?"

"Yeah, ton of issues getting wand permits and weird marriage laws, and oh-" I clapped excitedly, getting to my favourite bit about America's personal brand of stupidity, "clothing laws!"

"Clothing laws?" She repeated my words with a raised brow.

I'd actually discussed these with Newt before we'd left for New York nearly three days ago, I'd been attempting to figure out the best clothing to wear while travelling. He'd suggested trousers and a thicker vest in case it got windy while I reminded him that American's were odd about women wearing men's clothes.

"Yes. _Clothing laws_." I intoned, staring at her for a beat. "As in I could be arrested right this second for wearing these trousers." I nodded, speaking slowly as though she had suddenly suffered a massive blow to the head.

It was possible she'd suffered one. She'd been following us for however long and we hadn't noticed her, I'd been focused on any possible signs of magical creatures. Who knows what sort of trouble she might have ran into between now and then?

"That's not what I meant!" Goldstein stamped her foot, apparently I'd totally exasperated her with my detailing of their laws here.

"She's talking about the marriage laws." Newt declared, attempting to read the room in his own way and inform me of what the witch was so upset about.

"Ah, I get it now. Sorry, Goldstein." I nodded at him while apologising to her. He nodded back at me and for once it felt like we'd actually connected on the same plain. I was happy enough to understand what her issue was after he'd explained it to me. Unfortunately, I often failed to pick up on subtle clues with people I didn't know that well, (mainly because I didn't bother acknowledging them), but I was trying to improve.

"What?" She didn't sound as though she understood what he'd meant by marriage laws.

"We already know you have rather backwards laws about relations with non-magic people. That you're not meant to befriend them, that you can't marry them, which seems mildly absurd." He expanded on his knowledge of their laws involving Muggles, "right?" I realised he'd turned me, so I nodded my agreement.

I'm sure he didn't realise it but he'd actually known more about them than I did. I'd stopped my studying at the whole no fraternising part before we got on the boat and left it at that. Of course, I hadn't intended on marrying or becoming friends with any of the Muggles in New York.

"Who's going to marry him?" Goldstein scoffed, shaking her head before she moved to grip one of Kowalski's arms.

What was she on about then? We knew we weren't supposed to be friendly with him and yes, if we took him with us it might bend that law a bit. But Newt was likely the best candidate to heal the muggle, and it wasn't as though we were actually going to take him. Though, if we did, the experience might give us some new scholarly insights as Murtlap bites and Muggles weren't a well-documented subject.

"You're both coming with me—" Her eyes narrowed at us with the promise that she'd deal out quick justice if we didn't comply.

Unfortunately for her, I didn't often give much of a shite about threats so I just scoffed at her and considered the risks of ignoring her while she finagled his the Muggle's limps. I suppose we could just incapacitate her, maybe treat the Muggle if he looked like he was on death's doorstep before leaving to search for any other creatures.

I pursed my lips as my rational side informed me that it wasn't a fool-proof plan, and the consequences could be fatal. She'd inevitably find us again, she'd found us here. When she did find us, we'd definitely get arrested, wasting even more time, and there was distinct possibility that she'd kill my Niffler out of spite by that point.

"Do we really have too?" I almost groaned when she'd grunted at me and nodded. My body physically deflated at that, and I sighed.

"I'm...I'm dreaming, right?" Kowalski blinked at us with glassy eyes when Goldstein slung his arm around her shoulders, attempting to pull him away from his stance by the dresser.

"Yeah..." He nodded. "I'm tired, I never went to the bank. This is all just some big nightmare, right?" Kowalski continued to mutter to himself and everyone else in the room seemed to ignore him while Goldstein struggled with the full weight of his body.

"Oh, Gods," I mumbled out of horror as Goldstein actually grunted, attempting to stand him upright. I pursed my lips, watching her fall to the side before just catching herself before looking at us for help when the Muggle's head smacked against his flat's wall.

I cringed at the thud his head elicited when it'd bounced off the wall again as she almost fell over with him the second time. It was like watching a bloody ship sink...well, if the ship were a dazed muggle and she was water that kept freaking out while she tried to keep him afloat, so sort of like watching a ship sink.

I flinched at another thud that sounded off when Goldstein finally lost her balance entirely and fell to the ground. Kowalski staggered momentarily before landing atop of her frame and blinking at the ceiling. "Fine! Just give me your hand," I squeaked in response to her pitiful looks for help from the floor and stretched down to grab her hand.

"Just drop him why don't you," I was grumbling to myself, upset with my idiotic sense of morality as well as the fact that we had to deal with this right now. There were so many other important things we should be doing right now, fumbling about with a bloody muggle that thought he was dreaming wasn't one of them!

"Whasat?" Kowalski sat up with his arse firmly on top of Goldstein's back, forcibly pushing another gush of air out of her. I doubted that he actually knew where he was right now or what was going on considering that his eyes were glassy and his breath came in pants. Alright, she'd made a good point earlier; the man was incredibly ill.

"Bloody Hippogriff of a lad, isn't he?" I'd grunted while yanking on her hand as hard as I possibly could to drag her out from under him.

"Oh, he _is_." I groaned as my back seemed to cry out. It sent alarming zings of pain down my legs, forcing my face to contort while I continued to try and pull her towards me.

Suddenly, I found Newt had rushed forwards, "let me do it." He'd attempted to wrap his hand over mine and for some reason my brain though the best reaction was to just drop the witch's hand on the floor.

"I've got it." I dumbly shook my head at my companion after I realised I'd just dropped her hand. He seemed a touch upset with whatever he had running through his head, but thankfully backed away nonetheless. I'd figured out that I wasn't the strongest of the lot but that's fine, magic was still my friend...as was gravity for Mr Kowalski.

"Sorry." I smiled with a smug sense of gratification at said Muggle before raising my boot and pushing it off against his chest. "Oompf," went the air out of Kowalski's lungs as he haphazardly fell onto his back, just barely missing the bed-frame.

It apparently didn't take much for him to tumble over again and after he had, I grabbed Goldstein's hand once again to jerk her towards me. She slid across the wood floor much easier this time, which my back was incredibly thankful for.

Once she was out from under him, I ignored the sweat that had begun to gather on my forehead in lieu of grabbing my wand and figuring out how to transport him. I wasn't entirely sure as to what I'd do with it right now but I was damned if I would try to physically jerk him around.

Despite my stubbornness, I did realise that I'd wind up in bed for days if I continued to act like I was 16 again. Old quidditch and war injuries were fine when you were younger, but age had a way of pointing out all of your past mistakes. Especially when you didn't fully prepare yourself for any erroneous exercises such as pushing and pulling on a bloke that dwarfed you in size.

"Mercy lewis," Goldstein's face was red now and she took in a great breath of air that I imagined she'd begun to miss while having Mr Kowalski sitting on her. Relief and victory flowed through me while I attempted to stretch out the pains in my back with some hope that I wouldn't feel the consequences of this in the morning.

"You should have just let me help." Newt's tone was verging on petulant child with a touch of a scolding for me as he muttered. I cut my companion a look that told him to hush, and he pointedly ignored it. "We're going to have to straighten your back out later at this rate, anyway." Newt's incessant mumbling irked me.

I glowered at him as I realised he was ignoring me. "I'll figure it out myself," I hissed at him as though doing so meant that Goldstein couldn't hear us from less than a meter away.

He shrugged my annoyance off, as he continued to ignore me. I knew he was attempting to irritate me by staring just to the side of my face with a pinched expression that included his brows slightly furrowed and his lips in a thin line.

Alright, fine! So I should have asked for help, but I was tired of having to constantly depend on him to come in and save the day when I'd made a not so great decision.

I was clever, right? Well, I mean I _thought_ I was rather clever half the time...though the other half included me stumbling to get my body in motion and often failing. The phrase 'too clever by half' sometimes rang through my mind in my mother's voice, much to my chagrin.

Another mumble sounded off right as a solid ding shook Kowalski's bed and reminded me that he was still somewhat conscious and banging into everything. It was a vaguely amazing talent, I considered, he could somehow continuously injure himself without our help. Lovely. How did I get myself into these sorts of situations?

A wave of my wand and some careful focus charmed Kowalski's body to carefully float away from his sparse bed-frame and off the floor. Goldstein let out a short yet dramatic gasp as she stared between me and the body with a look that said I'd just sacrificed a few virgins in from of her Madame President.

I raised a brow in return and glanced at Newt to see if he knew what I'd done wrong this time. He was still pointedly ignoring me, rolling my eyes at his sulking I glanced back at Goldstein. "What now?" Genuine curiosity prompted my words, I was wondering what I'd done now to provoke this sort of reaction from her.

"You did it without a wand," she gestured with a nod towards Kowalski as I slowly nodded. "Yes?" I stared at her for a while longer, unsure and vaguely confused as to what was happening here. Had I broken another one of their silly laws, was there one against wordless magic?

"Didn't know the Brits were that talented is all." She grinned as I narrowed my eyes, realising that she'd just chaffed me.

"Here we go," Newt mumbled before I spared a glare in his general direction before eyeing Goldstein's slowly disappearing grin with ire.

I could take a bit of teasing! I wasn't that tetchy when someone called me English...okay so maybe I was. I couldn't help it! When I was little, people seemed to either just dismiss me due to my lineage or physically turn me away from pubs and shops.

"I was just saying, good job. Jeeze, didn't know the English couldn't take a joke." She sounded a touch more muted after I continued to glower at her with Newt's comment ringing through my mind. I was genuinely trying to bite my tongue right now, and I'd found it increasingly difficult to do so around Newt.

In the past, I'd prided myself on my ability to compartmentalise my roaring thoughts and emotions as well as my ability to control myself. I snapped after a moment of silence on Goldstein's behalf and her bewildered though mildly offended expression lingering. It was as though she couldn't figure out why I'd get so huffy, but what did she know?

"I'm not a bloody Brit!"

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 **EDIT AS OF DEC. 1st,** **2018 : Hiya guys, sorry, I read through this chapter and my brain decided that it needed to be edited. No major changes, but I think her personality shines through more this way. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Hiya!**

 **Heres the next chapter!** As there were several questions/comments I wanted to address in this by various guests and peoples, I'm hoping you'll know who you are. I feel like I've been slacking on responding to these as you guys typically do read through the chapter before you give me your honest thoughts and it was rather rude on my behalf to not address them! I've underlined key components to your questions in hopes that you'll know which one is for you. :)

Bored411: _They are adorable! I had fun with their little arguments simply because Newt gets shoved into a cinnamon roll box that doesn't allow him to get mad or if he does its just adorable somehow. I'm thinking when things get more serious that he'll be less...cinnamoney and more 'holy crap, stand back, hes mad.'_

Guest 1: _I'm not the biggest fan of Tina either but I do have to admit she's got some spunk. I'm not sure that Tina's controlling them but that may be because I'm the writer, I figured she'd just analyse the risk-benefit ratio of following Tina's orders up until the second that she's not got the upper-hand legally speaking. _

Guest 2: _I saw you posted two reviews and was minor confused for a moment until I realised they were just a touch different. Your review actually gave me a way to tie in what I'd been planning in the next chapters, so thank you! After a bunch of research on Legilimency and Occlumency, it turns out that JK Rowling sort of destroyed everything Snape said about both of them by having Queenie being a natural Legilimens since birth. Your question will be expanded on in writing next chapter, and thank you again for thinking about all this, it was very helpful! :)  
_

AcaciaDawn105: _I'm attempting to figure out how to pull off a kinky Newt as he's characterised as this awkward, shy, stuttering mess that basically stares at his crush from afar and cries when she walks out of his view in most fics. Canon Newt seems to be a bit more confident and reckless but he is also incredibly anti-social and unsympathetic to human plights. He knows people think he's weird, he just doesn't care unless its a loved one/friend._

Guest 3: _Thank you for giving this a try if you're generally not into FB fics! I've had fun with their growing chemistry, which is sort of funny as I generally get frustrated with fics that draw out two character's romance over more than five chapters (and I've officially done it for 22)._ **  
**

To the Guest that Reviewed Chapter 21: _Sorry for not addressing your comment on the last chapter! I meant to do so but then promptly forgot, Grindelwald is a character whose traits are things that I connect to someone like BBC's Jim Moriarty. In layman's terms, a special kind of psychopath that can acknowledge someone who might be his equal (like Dumbledore) and enjoys a bit of chaos. He's incredibly charming when he wants to be, smart, and focused on a larger picture. As for a Grindelwald/Tina or a Grindelwald/Ara, I think that Tina admires Percival Graves as a superior who listens to her and Ara is merely interesting considering she corrals an enraged Niffler. But their interactions will be developed when she gets interrogated (a scene I'm currently writing). _

Guest 4, .2018, and Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967: _Thank you for the reviews (they are my fuel for writing this stuff), and I hope you like this chapter!_

 **If you haven't reviewed, please do skip this portion and enjoy the chapter! :)**

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Through our running between the streets and avoiding loud awful smelling cars with Kowalski half awake, we'd stopped to allow the muggle to retch. I'd lost count of the number of times we'd stopped but eventually we came up to a house where Goldstein yanked Newt and me round a truck.

At first, I was worried she'd spotted another Billywig or some other creature considering one nearly flew into her mouth a few minutes ago. But right after that thought, I found myself annoyed.

We'd somehow managed to avoid detection for the most part, though I imagined that was due more so to my intention to remain undetected and my wand reciprocating with a lovely invisibility charm on the Muggle's body. If we just started darting round trucks, it'd begin to get a little odd for anyone else on the street and then all this work would be for nothing.

"What's the matter now?" I almost tsked at her but kept my frustration and impatience to a modest groan while she peeked at the building across the street.

"Okay—before we go in—I'm not supposed to have men on the premises." Goldstein nodded, appearing to consider the risks and benefits of sneaking a muggle and a wizard into her house.

Newt apparently picked up on this as well, "we can easily seek other accommodations." He stood and attempted to usher me away from the truck, "off we go, Ar-."

"Oh no, you don't!" She had a steely look in her eyes before her hand darted out and grabbed a hold of Newt's forearm after he'd began ushering me. "You two are going inside." Eyeing her hand sliding to his wrist when he tugged a little, I attempted to ignore the uneasy feeling the sight left me with and followed it up to his face.

Newt spared a hopeful look in my direction, I raised a brow. "Uh, " mumbling before I pursed my lips at his look. I realised that he thought I was could say something to change her mind. Just because I could be charming in most social circles, didn't mean I could charm a bloody Clabbert to tap-dance.

"Alright?" I turned my gaze back to Goldstein for a second to see that her brow had furrowed with her eyes on me. I stared at her while she scowled, realising she was waiting on me specifically to speak at this point.

Her eyes were hard-rimmed and fixed on my face, so strongly so that it was as if she suddenly lacked the ability to move her eyes, like they'd rusted into place. I had to admit she had a mighty glare, one which gave me the impression that any second now, she'd start spewing fire from her ears.

I glanced back at Newt for some help here and swallowed after seeing the expectancy in his eyes. He hadn't changed his mind. Terrific. I began nodding, making a quick decision that she was the larger threat here.

"Alright, Goldstein." I nodded, despite his expectancy turning annoyed expression at my agreement. I was not even going to try and persuade her right now, what was the point? We wasted even _more_ time dawdling out here?

She didn't let go of him as we crossed the street, which I couldn't decide was a good or bad thing. I did my best to guide the muggle I was hoping we still had following behind us with as little injuries as possible.

It's true that my companion was fit, in fact, I knew that a little too well after sleeping in the same vicinity as Newt for months. I was also well aware of his ability to come out relatively unscathed in most situations, but I doubted his talents would stop her from snapping his wrist if she were antagonised. I supposed that Newt had never really dealt with an enraged witch before and why would he have? It wasn't as though he went around breaking hearts...at least not intentionally.

After scuttling up the apartment stairs and making sure that the Muggle didn't bash his head on the stairs as we went, Newt sulked off to peek out a window while I scanned the so-called apartment that Goldstein lived in. I was looking for clues as to her personality-no. Actually I just looking for anything at all that might help us appeal to her and maybe even get her to let us leave.

Although impoverished looking on the outside, it seemed that the apartment was warm inside the door way and well-lit by workaday magic. An iron is working away on its own in a corner, and a clotheshorse revolved with rickety grating sounds in front of the fire as its wooden legs dealt with the weight of the American's smalls.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the frilly pink ones weren't Goldstein's. If anything they likely belonged to the blond who was currently standing in front of dummy in a silk slip. She appeared to be deeply concentrated on the dress worn by her dummy but glanced away from it to see the sad mess we were while I finally dropped Kowalski.

"Oof," Kowalski heaved and huffed, leaning on a nearby table while he gawked at the blond. To his credit, he landed on his feet better than I'd expected him to considering how pale and sweaty he looked.

The blond began to grin in a manner that would have made King George blush, "Teenie-you brought men home?"

 _Teenie_ , eh? A small smile fought its way across my lips, and I averted my gaze to study the number of magazines that were strewn across the room. I figured it'd be simpler than me outright snickering and I'd get to snoop a little, I mean I'd already seen what her unders looked like, who knows what else I might find in their sitting room?

"Gentlemen, this is my sister." I glanced up to see her snatching all the non-pink ones off the racks and smirked to myself. "You want to put something on, Queenie?" Goldstein's tone made her sound more insistent than simply giving her sister advice.

"Oh, sure-" Queenie agreed softly, though not particularly embarrassed. After seeing the third _Transfiguration Today_ in a row, I glanced across at Newt.

I was expecting him to be staring at her with the same bewitched look that Kowalski had, but he seemed more concerned with attempting to open the window so he could stick his head out of it. I focused back on the magazine in my hand with a small smile. Oddly, his lack of interest made me feel a little better about this situation.

"So, who are they?" I decided that it might be best if I actually paid attention to the conversation and looked up to see she was now wearing the dress she'd been so focused on originally.

"That's Mr. Scamander. He's committed a serious infraction of the National Statute of Secrecy-" Goldstein began as Queenie grinned, "He's a criminal?" Goldstein nodded at her sister, waving her hand at me now, "-Uh-huh, this is Miss Maximae," I gave Queenie a small smile, despite the odd intrusive feeling I got when I looked into her eyes.

"And this is Mr. Kowalski, he's a No-Maj-" Queenie's grin quickly fell away to a softer look of worry, "A No-Maj? Teen-What are you up to?" She took a few steps closer to us, eyeing the muggle as though she was trying to find any possible weapons on his person.

"He's sick-it's a long story-They've lost something, and I'm going to help them find it." Goldstein waved off her sister's concerning before she began to straighten up their sitting room with a touch of frustration as she banged the magazines on an end-table.

"We don't need your help finding anything." I frowned, immediately trying to get this woman off of our trail. Merlin, she was a persistent little bugger.

She stopped her banging for a moment to stare at me with disbelief, "I almost ate one of your creatures." My lips pursed at that, she wasn't wrong but we didn't need her meddling with creatures she didn't understand.

"So? I'm sure everyone accidentally swallows a fly here and there." I shrugged, hoping I looked less intense and maybe more apathetic. Maybe apathy was how I'd get her to leave well enough alone. She'd only upset the beasts and then we'd have to deal with her moaning at being bitten by a distressed Occamy or even Bowtruckle.

Goldstein rolled her eyes at me, setting the magazines down to actually face me with a hand on her hip. "If you don't want any of your little creatures getting blamed for all the issues we've been having, you'll let me hel-" A clatter grabbed our attention, as Kowalski staggered and knocked into the edge of a coffee table before he fell back onto their sofa.

"You need to sit down, honey." Queenie and her sister were quick to hover over Kowalski as he seemed to get reacquainted with the world once more. I turned my head towards Newt and the door, considering the possibility of them being distracted long enough for Newt and I to slip out.

"Hey-" Queenie paused as I glanced at the door, not listening intently, "-He hasn't eaten all day. And-"  
I looked back at her when she paused for the second time, "-aw, that's rough." She nodded understandingly, placing a hand on his arm as she crouched to look at him eye to eye. What exactly was happening here? He hadn't said anything at all.

"-He didn't get the money he wanted for his bakery." Queenie appeared to be reporting the Muggle's thoughts back to her sister who nodded, looking a little worried still while she hovered.

"You bake, honey? I love to cook." I raised a brow as a cold wave of realisation splashed my face, he hadn't said anything outside of a few affirmative grunts. She was a Legilimens, I surmised while the two of them seemed to have a silent conversation where she smiled and nodded.

The last interaction I'd had with one ended rather terribly-Well _horrifically_ is a better adjective. A gigantic fight that left neither of us interested in continuing the relationship. He'd been ex-boyfriend in fact, and at first he was mysterious and ever so perceptive with all of my likes and dislikes that it was exciting.

Unfortunately, he'd picked up on my interest in fighting in The Great War in a moment of vulnerability and forbade me to go. To which, of course, I responded with promptly signing up in a Muggle's recruitment centre. I hated Legilimens though not as a general group, just the annoyingly intrusive ones. It might also have something to do with the fact that I'd never been any good at Legilimency.

He'd always stressed me out. I could never confidently tell if my thoughts were mine or if they'd been fussed with and capitalised on. Especially when I had random intrusive ones like, hey we should jump off that edge-or what if we don't tell the bobby that we saw that kid steal some chips?

"You're a Legilimens?" I blinked as I realised that Newt's attention had finally been drawn from the window as he edged closer to the couch. His eyes almost sparkled with the possibility of a new ability to study and note, ever the odd scholar.

She nodded, smiling softly as she turned her attention towards him, "uh-huh, yeah." She frowned, "but I always have trouble with your kind. Brits. It's the accent."

I raised another brow as I considered the possibility of me thinking with the thickest Irish accent I could possibly muster. She glanced in my direction and alarm bells began to ring, so I did exactly what I did in the past: I focused on funnelling all emotions and thoughts out of my head until the bells stopped ringing.

"You're quite skilled." I noted, pursing my lips as I tried to force her out and schooled my expression. "You'd have to be, to do it even when you're not using a wand."

"Oh, I don't know. I was just born like this, you're much better than I am." She waved me off with a flattered smile, despite the confusion in her eyes when she scanned my face. I wasn't sure if she knew just how terrible I was at Legilimency from peeking into my mind and was trying to butter me up for something right now.

"Uh huh." I almost scoffed at her sudden modesty as she focused back on Kowalski when he tried to sit up properly amongst the velvet pillows.

I peeked in my breast pocket, checking in, and saw that Aurelius was snoozing away still. Little shite could sleep through just about anything if he wasn't picked up, a trait that he shared with Newt. I envied them on more than one occasion for that.

"You know how to read minds?" Kowalski sounded entirely appalled and for a moment, I wasn't sure why outside of a masculine embarrassment. I'd noticed something like that with men who weren't completely smooth in their approach to me, their cheeks would turn red and they'd shout if I snickered a little at it.

"Aw, don't worry, honey. Most guys think what you was thinking, first time they see me." Queenie's tone was just as soft and had the same lilt as it'd had when she was nearly naked.

"Now," she leaned down to him, grinning before she nibbled her lip. "You need food!"

I stared at her back with unabashed disbelief as she nearly skipped towards the kitchen. I was lightly bothered by how cheerful she was-No, that's a lie. Quite honestly, I was impressed. Not only had she heard the man's licentious thoughts when he'd been dropped on his arse, but she was also kind enough to dismiss it.

When I felt like the sisters were focused entirely on conversing while they prepared dinner, I edged towards Newt who'd gone back to staring out the window. He didn't appear to feel like acknowledging me despite the fact that I _knew_ he saw I was there, his eyes had darted towards me before continuing to pointedly stare out at the dark city.

"Newt," I finally mumbled to him after a minute ticked by of him ignoring me. "We need to talk." I almost groaned when he just spared me a short glance before continuing to gaze out the window.

If we didn't chat, we couldn't come up with a strategy for evading Goldstein and possibly healing the Muggle's ailment. I mean we could still technically just seize the moment if an opportunity presented itself but if we didn't plan it together, we'd end up acting more like a pair of newborn giraffes trying to take their first steps.

"Please." I pursed my lips while briefly considering what he'd do if I smacked his shoulder with one of the dozens of magazines in the sister's sitting room.

I didn't need to grab one though, as he turned his body slightly towards me. To someone else, it might have looked like he was just shifting in his stance but I knew most of Newt's social interactions were guided by his knowledge of Magizoology. If he was willing to have his body facing mine, he was paying attention to what I said and acknowledged it.

"I was thinking, maybe we saw to the Muggle after dinner." I continued, hopeful of his body language.

He gave me a small nod and I let myself smile a little at that. "Good, we can talk more about getting out of here after dinner." I nodded at him before turning away to focus on assessing the Niffler and what to do about his situation as I imagined Goldstein wouldn't like him being free to roam her flat.

"So as I don't know if you can control yourself properly," I sighed at the little guy in my breast pocket, he clicked at me twice as if he disagreed. I gave him my best don't-even-try look, to which he clicked once at before shifting in my pocket.

I imagined that was his version of a petulant 'fine!'. "That's what I thought, now I know you've eaten twice your fill in sweets and since you won't get hungry for a while, it might be best that you have a bit of kip."

I waited until he seemed to nod before I continued, "yeah, so-" I was cut off by the soft poking of Newt's case against my side and glanced at him. He wasn't looking at me but the fact that he could obviously hear me and was offering his case told me that he'd agreed with my assessment.

I turned my gaze back to Aurelius who was still watching me with haughty eyes, "so I was thinking you might enjoy resting amongst all of your treasures." I raised a brow, awaiting his response which was him attempting to crawl out of my pocket.

"Hang on," I snorted as he failed to climb out of my pocket, his body was too short to be able to hoist himself over the edge. Before helping him out, I grabbed the case Newt had offered out of his hands and turned, setting it down on the back of the Goldstein's sofa.

I opened it and slid my hand into my pocket, waiting until he'd grabbed a hold of my fingers before gently pulling him out. "Off you go." I lowered him down to the case and waited until he'd clambered off my hand and disappeared down the ladder.

"Thanks." I nodded at Newt while focusing on closing the case and snapping it firmly shut. He didn't say anything in return but took the case off of their sofa before continuing to stare out the window.

Newt was essentially sulking but he appeared to be getting over it. I wasn't sure as to what part of today he was sulking about specifically, or if it was everything, I didn't particularly care to ask why. Feelings were tricky as a whole, but dealing with hurt feelings in someone I cared a good deal about was even more tricky and I just didn't have the energy to do so right now.


	24. Chapter 24

**Hi all! This little blurb is for those that reviewed last chapter, I under lined bits for guests who left a comment in hopes you can pick out which one is you:**

 _Guest 1 and/or 4:_ Hi there, two reviews in one day(I think)! You're spoiling me! I think all of your comments/thoughts will be answered below :) The concept of them going back and forth with Queenie accidentally reading minds might come into play later but for now, its just dinner conversation. Also! I will be doing Newt's POV next chapter!

 _Guest 2:_ You're the second person to ask for a Newt POV and you're getting it next chapter! I would have done it this one but I'd already written this guy up by the time you guys asked for it and it felt like a shame to scrap it.

 _Ivana bocanegra:_ I see what you mean! We get to see Tina being a little awkward as she relaxes with her sister and our pair. Also, you know I haven't actually considered entering Leta into the situation at all? I think I might actually do that though it'd be in a long while.

 _Toreh:_ Hi! I'm really happy you like this story (I do live off of people reading my rambles with fictional characters and telling me what they think, you know) Building these two up has been fun and there have been people asking for a bit of romance which I think is found here in a softer manner as Newt and Ara aren't alone.

 _Bored411:_ I think Ara is just totally bamboozled by Queenie, but you'll see what I mean in the chapter below! Thank you for reviewing :)

 _TheWonderfulShoe:_ You know, I hadn't actually considered a jealous Newt from Ara's perspective but you just gave me an idea for Newt's POV next chapter.

 _Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967/Love-Fiction-2018:_ Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well :)

 _GreyMoon-Huntress:_ They do sulk quite a bit, don't they?

 _Guest 3 for ch21: _Sassy, aren't we? You gave me a bit of a smile when I read your review.

 **If you didn't review last chapter, please enjoy!**

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I'd wandered over to their modestly sized kitchen after seeing Goldstein take a seat and Queenie ushering the ill Muggle over to the head of their table, next to her. I glanced at Newt from my shuffle to the the table, wondering how exactly we were going to get out of this when I heard a soft squeak from Newt's coat as he edged closer.

Both him and his Bowtruckle were curious about the meal that had been prepared, and rightly so. Queenie's preparation of desert was charming to take in, especially when it'd all floated softly into the tray and a dusting of powdered sugar fell atop of the pastry.

"Well, sit down, you two, we're not going to poison you." My hands lingered on the top of a wooden chair after Goldstein had lit the candles.

I eyed her for a moment, briefly considering if she'd actually do it or not. I mean if she did, I'm not sure that I'd actually know until I was foaming at the mouth and convulsing, it wasn't as though I had major training with detecting poisons. Taking men by surprise? Check. Sneaking around after night? Well trained, thank you. But tasting a poison before swallowing? Not even a teensy bit, I'd be more likely to eat it and think the dish tasted gre-

I quickly glanced down at the feeling of a hand on top of mine with confusion to spy the cylindrical scar that resembled a set of Doxy teeth. Following the hand all the way up the arm until I met Newt's eyes. I raised a brow and let my hands fall away from the chair, taking a few steps back while wondering if he was really going to so petty as to take the seat I'd been at.

A second passed in which several different expressions crossed Newts eyes. At first I was irritated and wondered if he was going to finally say something aloud to me, or if I should before the food got cold because Merlin knows he wouldn't speak up in time.

Maybe 30 seconds went by before he just pulled the chair out and went towards the one next to it, pulling that one out before sitting down. I glanced between the chair he'd pulled out just to quickly pick another with confusion.

Oh.

 _Oh._

Wow.

Now _I'm_ the sulky arsehole, aren't I?

He'd been a gentleman and while I didn't say it out-loud, I'd just insulted him by thinking he'd just wanted the seat. My lips pursed as I quickly took the seat and shuffled it up to my place at the table with my eyes focused only on the plate in front of me. There was food being passed around and I sat quietly, appreciating the tense yet homely atmosphere of this dinner.

I'd settled down at the table in the Goldstein's flat and stared at the food with some reluctance as well as some excitement while Queenie passed it around the table. They'd prepared a real home-cooked meal, a stew with real meat and potatoes, I hadn't had a dinner like this for nearly a decade.

My mum was the last person to prepare such a thing for me as my da had never been a terrific cook, something I'd unfortunately inherited from him. Newt, for all of his good qualities, was not a terrific cook either.

We'd made do with bits of preserved meats and breads with jam or cheese as well as the occasional bit of beef or ham. Actual meat was a mixed bunch simply because we'd eat the left overs of whatever the carnivorous creatures didn't consume. The bits we did get had to endure a second round of tribulations as they were cooked depending on how well we'd set up the fire (something that we didn't invest much time into.)

Queenie, however, was an excellent cook and looked to be quite talented at this sort of magic. The fact that not only was she talented in Legilimency, a skill that I could never master, but that she was also obviously talented in food-related charms poked at my pride. Those were things I've always failed horribly at and it was annoying to be presented with a perfectly made meal in front of my very eyes.

I watched the bowl of stew come into Newt's hands. Hoping to mentally plan out how I'd divide up the space I glanced down at my plate. If I finished this before Newt was done, I wouldn't have the stew touching the strudel later on...wait a second. There's no plate here.

I furrowed my brow as I stared at the spot with confusion, sitting my hands onto the empty space to make sure it hadn't somehow gone invisible. I _did_ just have a plate, right? I hadn't imagined that?

My eyes scanned around the kitchen for an extra plate that hadn't been set, dishes sat behind a glass door of their kitchen cupboards but none on the counters. I leaned back, attempting to be inconspicuous while I tried to make sure I didn't spot Aurelius trying to shove one of the Goldstein's plates into his pouc-

"Ara?" My searching stare snapped back towards the sound of my name in Newt's soft voice.

He seemed almost amused with me. I reluctantly opened my mouth to subtly mention I thought the Niffler _might_ have escaped the case and stole my plate, "uh..." I mumbled but stopped when he sat a plate down in front of me. This is awkward...and vaguely disconcerting. I'd been wrong on two occasions concerning Newt and they'd been right after each other.

"Thanks," I nodded, suddenly feeling very silly and paranoid. I sat up fully, grabbing my spoon before I paused with my eyes on the stew he was hap-haphazardly piling onto the middle of his plate. I swallowed, unwilling to glance down at my own just yet in case he'd done the same thing to mine while anxiety settled in at the possibility he might've.

Everyone else seemed to be oblivious to the fact that he'd resorted back to our established habits from meals in the shed, but I wasn't. The fact that he'd filled my plate before his own, as he almost always did, imparted oddly warm fuzzy feelings. Peculiar feelings which lasted for a lovely but fleeting second before my neuroses derailed them.

I was worried that he might not have kept my stew to one side of the plate, that he'd just plopped it all down onto the plate. If he hadn't done so then I'd simply have to grit my teeth and decline desert as it'd be impossible for me to eat around the stain stew left after I ate it. Dessert was something that I always looked forward to, courtesy of an impartial yet demanding sweet tooth.

I mean, it wasn't as though I could merely ask for a new plate or magically clean this one of sauce properly without attracting attention. I did know that even if I attempted to, I'd end up having to explain why the thought of my food touching produced waves of anxiety and frustration.

I knew my need for complete separation of my food on one plate was irrational and absurd. But that didn't change the fact that if the foods touched without my permission I simply couldn't eat them.

A minute had passed before I forced my eyes down to my plate with a hint of tumultuous fear and regret. My gaze was forcibly settled on the stew which had been carefully tucked away onto the left side of the plate.

I wasn't sure if he'd remembered or was that just how he also ate. Couldn't recall him mentioning anything but it wasn't as though I spent a good bit of my time studying his eating habits. That'd be incredibly weird, wouldn't it? To encounter someone staring at you while you ate?

Peering curiously at his exposed plate, I leaned over just enough so I could see it over the bowl of stew he'd sat between us. After a moment, it became apparent that stew had been spooned with blatant disregard for it's location in the across his plate as he began to eat it. He remembered.

"Is there something wrong with it?" I glanced up from my research at the sound of concern in Queenie's face and attempted to act like I hadn't just been inspecting Newt's plate out of a silly need that my food didn't touch.

She appeared confused, anxious, and somewhat offended all in one body. I had to admit that Queenie had been unconditionally lovely to us, she gave me the impression of someone who wore her feelings on her sleeves and saw only the best in everyone. So, making her upset made me feel a teensy bit guilty and I pursed my lips.

I stared at her face for a moment, considering how to piece my prior envy for her multitude of talents into words that didn't sound so awful. A second ticked by when I felt like she'd tried to peek inside my mind again and frowned, annoyed she'd try despite my continuous silence. My proverbial walls came crashing down around my mind and for once in my adult life, I felt safe for a short second.

I shook my head, "no-no. It looks great." My eyes stared strictly at my food, a meal that consisted of stewed meat and some boiled potatoes had never looked as good as it did right now.

I stabbed a bit of the meat and placed it into my mouth with some urgency, hoping that'd quell her worries as well as my guilt over her hurt feelings. I supposed that months of Newt and I attempting to cook over a small fire left me with the desire for food that wasn't prepared on the same table an animal had lied on an hour prior.

I chewed it for a bit, unhappily realising that she was indeed a terribly talented cook. Damn it. She was undoubtedly attractive in all senses of the word, sweet to an annoying degree, _and_ she could cook well. This witch was nearly three times the woman I was, well at least in the traditional sen-

"You're an Occlumens, aren't cha?" I blinked in confusion, continuing to chew despite my thoughts being interrupted.

"What?" I furrowed my brow at the plate after I'd swallowed and glanced up at her, "I mean, I tried studying some after school, but I was never any good at it." I guessed that studying wasn't the best term for what I'd did. I focused entirely on pushing my ex boyfriend out of my mind and constantly failed to do so for about a year.

"Maybe she's just part troll." My eyes cut to Goldstein's who appeared to be grinning, "Teenie! You're silly, trolls can't be Occlumens. They're too stupid." Queenie giggled, lightly pushing her sister's shoulder.

Goldstein grinned like she'd told a splendid joke and for a slow second, I merely stared at her; entertained with the fact that I'd officially discovered someone who was _more_ socially inept than Newt. Instead of being annoyed with her teasing, I just smirked. Two could play the mockery game, and I was rather talented at finding people's sore spots.

"No trolls in the family, _Teenie._ " I almost snorted at the sudden unhappy look on her face at her nickname but focused on continuing, "might be nice though. I'd be a good bit taller." I shrugged it off as an interesting joke that hadn't been set up very well.

Apparently months of being around Newt had paid off in some aspect outside of the obvious amount of knowledge I'd acquired on creatures such as Trolls. They weren't stupid by any means, just driven by instincts as they didn't possess a higher level of thought like we did. I didn't mention that little fact, choosing to take another bite instead.

"Well, I can't hear you," I glanced up at her. She motioned to her head with her fork sounding a bit bothered, "so you have to be." I raised a brow at that, attempting to recall of my knowledge on mind-based magic and my awful attempts to excel at it.

"You really can't or feel anything?" I pursed my lips before turning my gaze back to my food after she'd shaken her head. "Interesting." I scooped another bite up into my mouth and chewed a bit of meat.

"I can only get a sense of your emotions. They're fuzzy, kinda like listenin' to a bad wireless, y'know? Everything's really quiet." She sound seemingly upset that she couldn't peer into my mind. I took her description into consideration, attempting to study her ability from afar while I chewed in thought.

Both Legilimency and Occlumency required strenuous mental discipline, and a long time to master them. They required _years_ of work, and even then you might only be half as good as someone else. People's minds were layered and each layer had a lot of different avenues for one to explore, plus people could typically feel you trying to rifle through their minds.

Her existence, a natural Legilimens, sort of destroyed the basis of every lesson and book I'd gone though in an attempt to practice both branches of magic. Since she was born with the talent, I wondered if it was something like people being born as Metamorphmagus; where one had the ability but it took years to sharpen and control it until one could transform at will.

Perhaps I could actually learn a thing or two from her, she was obviously rather clever despite all of her scatterbrained and licentious appearances so far. What was that saying? Don't pull a book apart at the cover? That didn't feel right, but that might as well be the phrase in my case. I'd just need to capitalise on he-

"It would make sense." My jaw stopped it's motions at the sound of Newt before I swallowed the mush I'd turned the meat into. I supposed he'd officially stopped sulking about our circumstance.

"How?" I raised a brow, watching him from the corner of my eye. Maybe he'd gotten over our little tiff about the Muggle, and my decision to go along with the ex MACUSA auror.

"Well," he paused, seemingly unsure if he should disclose such information in our current company as he spared a wary glance at Goldstein and her sister. I eyed the two witches across the table from us before watching the Muggle near Newt at the head of the table as he continued to eat.

We _were_ at their table, with _Teenie_ and her sister acting as the only active listeners so I figured we sort of had to finish this conversation in front of them at this point, it'd be rude otherwise. I'm sure the Muggle could hear a conversation happening less than a meter away from him but he was working on consuming his second plate before dessert.

"Yes?" I turned my head to fully eye him, motioning for him to continue now that I might learn something completely new to me. We simply had to finish the conversation, I didn't fancy seeing what Goldstein was like if she thought we were purposely hiding something under her nose.

"You're rather..." I raised a brow, he seemed to trying to find a better phrase than the one he'd originally thought of, "recalcitrant." I smiled a little at his chosen term, pigheaded or stubborn as a mule were probably better descriptions of me.

"And Occlumens have to be, correct? Isn't that how they have the will to keep everyone out of their heads?" He turned to Queenie who shrugged as her sister nodded gravely, looking as though she'd done 10 years worth of work in a day and I imagined she had if she grew up with a Legilimens for a sister.

"I wasn't any good at it, though." I furrowed my brow, finding fault with his theory. "I mean I _tried_ to be, but I just wasn't."

To be fair, there were times that I'd successfully lied to Marcus, but there weren't many moments of victory in the grand scheme of our relationship. I was often too angry or happy or anxious to actually settle myself down and focus on sealing him out of my head.

"How? You're incredibly talented at everything else, something disciplined like that should have been easy for you to grasp." I peered at Newt for a second, wondering if he meant to pay me such a hefty compliment or if that was just what he thought he'd observed over the course of our companionship.

"Not really," I shook my head, assuming he'd just stated his personal observations. "Too emotional, I think." I muttered my personal theory as to why I failed at mind magic like Legilimency or Occlumency.

The meal finished in almost complete silence with Queenie staring at either Newt or myself with the oddest look on her face. It was as if she kept trying to understand something that was just within her grasp before she'd lose sight of it and start searching all over again. The only time one of us spoke was when Aurelius had begun attempting to crawl up my leg and I grumbled at him for getting out of the case once again.

I couldn't grumble for long, of course, he just wanted some food and he was rather well-mannered for a Niffler. He only growled at Goldstein once before he was quickly won over by Queenie's insistence that he needed to try some of the strudel she'd prepared for desert. By the end of dinner, I was quite sure that Newt and I needed to start him on an exercise regime.

* * *

 **Hiya,**

 **I put this below everything as it concerns the next chapter and my updating schedule, so if you don't really care when I update feel free to skip this!  
**

 **I will be posting Newt's POV next chapter in the next three days (may be tomorrow, may be December 16th, 2018. I'm not sure yet!) but, after this chapter, expect a maximum of a _2 week_ break because I will be seeing my parents for Christmas and we're going to  Harry Potter World in Florida next week! I'm so excited!**

 **If you have any tips or recommendations for Universal Studios, HIT ME UP! I'll be the 22 year old girl running around whilst waving her wand at everything she can.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry, two super exciting announcements:**

 _ **YOU CAN LOOK INTO MACUSA, THE BLIND PIG, AND THE GOLDSTEIN'S APARTMENT ON GOOGLE EARTH'S STREET VIEW! AAAAAAAAH. **_

**Okay, I'm sorry but I got really excited. I kept searching for pictures of their flat because we never really get to see the lay out of the total apartment without people in the way. AND YOU CAN DO THAT ON GOOGLE MAP/EARTH! I don't know what its called any more, it was Google Earth when I was in school but now I think it's Maps?**

 _ **Any how, this will be the last update for the next two weeks as I'll be doing Christmas things and going to Universal Studios (I'm so excited for Harry Potter world guys, you have no idea!)**_

 **If you reviewed this is for you,**

 _heyitsellibear :_ I'll make sure to try that! :)

 _4:_ Hiya! I noticed you read my Sirius Black/OC fic, thank you for taking the time to review it! Also, yeah a lot of writers tend to read what people say but don't respond to it. To be honest, I generally don't either-unless there's specific comments or questions that I wanted to address. I think that having someone respond to whatever you write gives you the same feeling if its a review of a story or a response to that review. :) Alsoalso! As for Ara's mental abilities and why she couldn't block out her ex-boyfriend...I'M NOT TELLING YET! (Heh, I love doing this.)

 _bored411:_ I had fun with trying to detail the mental side of insecurity, especially for someone who comes across as being rather sure of herself.

 _Ivana bocanegra:_ I think this will be a bit of said intimacy that you were looking forwards too! Enjoy :)

 _TheWonderfulShoe:_ They're such an odd pair! I just saw the Crimes of Grindelwald movie and that whole scene between Newt and Tina was just awkwardness incarnate.

 _GreyMoon-Huntress:_ I actually giggled a little when the troll joke came up! I just see Tina having a really abrasive sense of humour that slips out when she isn't in her super serious 'auror-mode'.

 _Guest:_ Sorry guest! I couldn't  post this yesterday but I hope that the fact it's almost twice the length of a normal chapter makes up for my lack of posting. :) Also I'm not sure who the yellow people are, maybe the Minions? Do they have a ride? I can't recall.

 _KaylaWilton/Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967/Love_Fiction_2018/najamuzen/_ _nameword:_ Thank you all for reviewing and leaving me your thoughts! I hope his POV is all that you expected it to be (and maybe even more?) _  
_

**If you didn't review last chapter, feel free to skip this!**

 **This is in NEWT'S POV.**

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While I'd made peace with the fact that I couldn't open the Goldstein's window, that didn't stop me from trying my best to peer out of it. I was hoping that maybe some of the creatures that had gotten out could smell the trail I'd left behind at the Muggle's apartment and were now trying to find us. It wasn't a guarantee of course, Kowalski continued to just bloody vomit every where we'd gone, completely overpowering my scent.

A soft quilling told me that Pickett found this situation to be rather agreeable with him as I glanced down to see his head poking out of my coat. I sighed, wishing I could fully communicate the many emotions I had running about my head without feeling as though I'd lied somehow.

The irate and dazed Muggle was ruining our time in New York, ironic considering this was meant to be merely a short stop until we could climb aboard the train that would take us to Arizona in less than three days. This would be a short stop, I'd told her.

Just a week and a half to travel there from Equatorial Guinea, then we'd go to Peru which she'd been so excited for. Who knew a witch could almost vibrate from the thought of seeing a Dragon?

"So you're a baker, Mr Kowalski?" I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering over to Ara each time she'd spoken behind me. The four of them had been sitting in the Goldstein's sitting room since dinner had finished, talking to the Muggle. Queenie, the flashy blond witch, had found his stories incredibly fascinating; even oohing and awing at the most opportune times in an effort to turn Kowalski's cheeks red for her own amusement.

"Ah, just Jacob is fine." Kowalski waved off Ara's formalities which she seemed to take as vaguely amusing. "I'm not special enough for a Mister," he shook his head bashfully.

"Well," I observed as she subtly raised one pale eyebrow before nodding with a practised pleasant smile for him. "Jacob, you've got to allow me to try some of your creations some day. Aurelius obviously thinks you're spectacular." Her immediate acceptance of his requests irked me in the slightest. He'd made this so much more difficult for us and here she was, just nodding along with what ever he wanted!

"Aurelius?" The Muggle didn't even remember her Niffler's name. _He'd_ been the one absolutely shocked to see him climbing up her leg for food at the table and he couldn't even remember it when she'd called the little bugger's name several times over. I turned back to the window, annoyed again that she'd pick their side over mine, but I couldn't seem to stop my eyes from trying to peer at her against my will.

"This little guy." She nodded, pointing to the Niffler who'd proudly sat on her shoulder and was now listening to their conversation since his nap in the case.

"I guess if a rat likes my food, it can't be that bad." Ara let out a low chuckle while he awkwardly laughed at her perceived insult.

"He's a Niffler," my ear hung onto the crispness of her correction with a hint of delight spreading across my chest, she was becoming annoyed. "Niffler?" He was confused, of course he was. He didn't know nor care about any of our creatures, so _why_ was she giving him the time of day right now?

"They're a burrowing creature, native to the UK, and attracted to expensive jewellery. If you knew about his taste in earrings, I doubt you'd feel he was a rat." I chuckled lightly to myself at that, recalling when he'd attempted to nick her earrings for the shiny rubies and gold in them when we'd first met.

"Ah, he _is_ listening." Ara's 'narky declaration forced me to involuntarily turn and involve myself in their dull conversation.

"I'm not wilfully ignoring you, there just doesn't seem to be space for me to sit." I shrugged, it wasn't a complete lie.

I stared at her while her eyes seemed dart towards the sofa, which the two curious sisters sat on. She didn't respond still when she eyed the blue wooden chair near the fireplace which held the sweaty Muggle that'd gone silent. I knew her mind was likely running as fast as a train right now and decided that I'd just wait for her to focus back on me before speaking again.

She stood up and leaned down, patting the place she'd vacated, "there is now."

I almost sighed aloud but bit my tongue to abide by her wishes nonetheless, in the back of my mind I found myself hoping that she'd noticed my attempts at apologising during dinner. I'd fixed her plate just how she liked it and pulled out her chair, though I'm not entirely sure she realised what I was doing both times.

She'd stared at me with her brows slightly pinched when I tried to pull out her chair for her, her expression was confusing enough that I paused in my quest to apologise for sulking earlier. But if she wanted me closer now, I don't believe I could've found it in me to deny her-even if I wanted to. Though of course, I'd have to endure the lacklustre company by joining their little group for sitting near her.

To be fair, I'd gotten us into this mess by stupidly leaving my case with the Muggle and-what was even better-she _hadn't_ rung me for it just yet; I definitely wasn't about to push my luck. Plus, I decided that if my creature's hadn't sought us out by now, they weren't going too. So what was the point of my lingering?

"Where are you going to sit then?" I raised a brow, coming over to the chair she tarried by.

Her mouth gave me a modest smile while the look in the brown of her eyes informed me that she'd already thought of the solution by the time I'd asked. Uneasy, I sat down in the tan velvet lined chair and waited to see what she'd do now while the two sisters shifted down the couch to give her some space.

"You can have a seat by us." Queenie supplied happily, I rubbed my jaw wondering what Ara was thinking about, she had a choice now. Idly, I found myself considering when I'd need to shave again. My scruff had been accused of tearing up the pillow cases on a few seperate laundry days.

She waved them off, "no need." I stifled the ecstatic smile that cropped up when she'd waved them off and didn't move away from me. "I've already got one," she nodded, confusing me with the lack of open seats.

I couldn't stifle the grin that my smile had morphed into when she promptly sat on the arm rest and choose to hide it behind my hand. A firework of excitement shot up to my chest, she _wanted_ to sit near me. She didn't have to but she'd chosen too, interesting considering that she'd darted away from my grasp only a few hours ago at the Muggle's apartment.

"Ah," Queenie smiled knowingly at her, sparing me a short glance before leaning down to the table between us, "would you like some tea, Mr Scamander?"

"I'm fine," I shook my head, leaning my elbow on the bit of arm rest behind her arse. I liked the spot as I could see the others while still being able to observe her actions and reactions.

"I'll have some more," Ara held up her cup before reaching up to grab the Niffler.

My brow raised when she turned towards me with him in hand, "hold him for me?" I surmised I didn't have much of a say in it when she gently slipped the Niffler into my lap, "sure." I nodded, keeping my eyes on the Niffler who appeared to care very little for me right now with his eyes firmly on Ara.

She didn't appear to stop and listen to my answer before leaning forwards slightly to slide her cup under the teapot that had floated up. It'd began refilling her cup and I noticed how still she'd kept her entire body as it did so; almost chuckling at the fact that she couldn't differentiate between keeping only her hand still and the rest of her body.

My eyes lingered on her hands, I marvelled at the fact that they looked almost as large as mine wrapped around the delicate glass cup. At the feeling of movement on my leg, I turned my eyes down to see the Niffler as he rearranged his position on me. He glanced up at me before settling to simply sit on the knee closest to her and I almost rolled my eyes, feeling that a small challenge had just been issued between him and I with that look.

I kept my eyes off her arse out of respect but shifted my elbow on the arm rest just enough so that it'd barely touch her whenever she leaned back from the table. I didn't feel _threatened_ by the tiny beast, yet there was an air of mutually acknowledged competition between the two of us.

We both knew that Ara's attention was a precious commodity, one that seemed to dwell on either the Niffler or me but never both at the same time. He did too good of a job in derailing any serious conversations of ours.

I glanced back as the teapot landed softly on the Goldstein's coffee table. I imagined she'd be adding her customary three spoons of sugar; sugar was something I'd begun to keep more of for her tea in the mornings when she appeared to be a permanent addition to my life.

"Thank you." She slowly leaned back to her position with her cup in hand and I waited, wondering if she'd try to shift away from me when she felt my elbow.

I wouldn't try to readjust my position, of course. I'd put my limb there simply to be as close to her as she'd feel comfortable with while I observed the back of her for any tension at my proximity. This was just one of my many on-going studies concerning the witch and her habits.

When we weren't in the middle of a creature-centric situation, I spent a good bit of my time observing her. At first it'd just been out of curiosity, what sort of woman willingly decided she'd rather sleep in a shed and roll around with beasts rather than get married to a respectable man?

But then the questions only grew in numbers, and our relationship turned only more muddy to grasp. I'd found myself wondering what her hair would feel like between my fingers, or what she was dreaming about when she kicked in her sleep. She spoke in her sleep-though I'd never inform her-and talking to her when she was unconscious felt far easier than when she was actually awake.

Even if we never found the chance to actually discuss our relationship, I'd decided that observing her reactions was a tried and true strategy. A strategy which included carefully manoeuvring my way closer to her person while she was distracted by something to give me a better idea of her feelings than relying on her words.

Just as comfortably as she'd leaned down, she shifted back into her original position and I waited for a change in her body. After reaching for the Niffler, I found that she sat in almost exactly the same place she'd been in before getting her tea.

The Niffler and I stared at each while he journeyed from my knee up into her careful grasp again. He'd gleefully slid back into her hand with a particularly smug look for me was thrown over her hand when she'd pulled him back towards her. It'd been a look that I didn't care to try and understand even though he'd thrown it at me yet again while he settled into his place on his favourite witch's shoulder.

I rubbed my jaw again, while the rest of the sitting room spoke to each other about something I didn't care to listen to. I was just happy that she'd not shifted away from me after settling into her seat of choice.

Actually, I think she may have even sat on the arm rest a little farther back than she'd been before. My elbow wasn't lightly grazing her but was now firmly against her backside, not that I was complaining.

Though, perhaps I'd miscalculated the distance? I hadn't done that in a long time, typically my depth perception was acutely correct, it had to be. If it wasn't then I might end up injuring Ara, myself, or even a creature by accident and that sort of mistake on my part was unforgivable.

"Any how, this little guy's expensive taste was how I caught him." She jerked her thumb towards me, gaining my full attention while she stirred her tea. I hadn't been listening but it seemed that I might have been a topic of conversation though she was still addressing the room with a relaxed tone.

"He scampered up on my shoulder somehow and tried to stuff an earring back into his pouch," Ara chuckled, her shoulders shaking lightly as they did when she actually found something genuinely funny.

I'd noticed she could mimic an emotional response rather well, though I wasn't sure why she'd bother faking one when she could just be honest. It was only authentic when her entire frame reacted to whatever was making her happy or sad.

I often gauged her words by how she moved when she said them for my own peace of mind. She'd proven to be a skilled liar by all means, even when stressed, and the thought of her lying to me caused the strangest sensation of tightening in my belly.

She was a serious person most of the time-talkative when she wanted to be but quiet when she was deep in thought, those were the best times for me to study her. Whenever she genuinely laughed and I mean _really_ laughed, she let out something of a howling cackle that made you think it's source was the funniest thing she'd ever seen in her life.

Listening to her genuine laughter, especially until she cried, was actually quite refreshing once I'd gotten over the novelty of a well-to-do looking woman cackling at a clumsy Niffler like a loon. Sure, it was loud and rather disconcerting if you weren't in on the joke-at first I sincerely wondered if she'd snapped.

However nearly everything Ara did was naturally loud, which took some getting used to but now I think I preferred that instead of the soft chortling she favoured with other people. Her laughter was a sound that rendered me with little else to do or say but to try and hide my grin.

"It was still attached to my ear when I stopped him in the middle of his thieving, mind you." I felt myself smiling at the sounds of laughter she'd elicited in the room while her hand came up to finger the earrings she had in now, as if she were trying to subtly make sure they were still there.

I'd imagined the earrings were quite expensive, the small diamonds she wore now as well as the more attention grabbing pair she'd worn months ago. I mean she'd looked quite the lady: pale with her hair curled precisely so and a silky peach dress that cut across her figure when I first saw her handling the Niffler.

She was less pale now, of course, but still just as clean and soft feeling in her trousers when compared to me with my odd tan lines and ugly scars. I'd simply assumed she was just another girl trying to disappoint her parents by taking off with a man in a flight of fancy; that she'd come to her senses after our first hike in Switzerland. But she hadn't, she was still here even after my blunder with her personal safety.

"That's how you met?" Queenie spoke up after the girls' laughter and Kowalski's jeering had quieted down. I glanced at her and saw she was peering curiously between the two of us with a small smile.

Ara nodded, "Mhm. I caught Aurelius _and_ him in one move." I averted the woman's eyes in an effort to not have her pilfering through my memories of my companion, we'd discussed the partial bits of a plan and it wouldn't quite work if Queenie knew.

"That's sweet." Her smile grew, I pursed my lips feeling as though she'd peeked into my mind for a moment against my wishes.

"So uh. Mr Scamander, Jacob, Miss Maximae, we were thinking you guys should take the bedroom for tonight." Goldstein spoke up, motioning behind her with a hand.

"There's only two beds, so maybe you guys can figure it out between yourselves?" She frowned, looking as though she felt bad for us having to all share one room. It was rather spacious looking though, two twin beds and a good bit of space between them; it was much larger than my shed.

"Ara, you're completely welcome to sleep in here with me and Teenie if you'd like." Queenie spoke up, genuinely extending the invitation despite her sister's look of muted panic. I felt my own worry spike for a moment, uneasy with the idea of her sleeping out here while I was over there but not willing to speak up just in case she actually did want some space from me.

"Oh! That's kind but no, I'm fine. Thanks." Ara shook her head, declining the invitation and easing some of the tension in my shoulders that I hadn't noticed building up. I almost jerked back when she stood up abruptly and watched as she went over the Muggle, leaning down and pressing the back of her hand against his forehead.

My eyes narrowed when his eyes drifted down from her face, trailing down her neck and landing on her chest in front of him. "I think we really need to get him to bed, he needs rest." She declared to the Goldstein's over her shoulder, resulting in both of them standing up quickly and darting about as sheets came and pillows came out of their cupboard in the kitchen.

"Oh, of course! You should have said how tired you were, honey." Queenie nodded, frowning while she whisked the teapot and tray back into the kitchen with her wand.

I began to feel the same peculiar feeling I'd gotten when the Indian bloke kept paying too much attention to my companion, but this wasn't quite the same. I'd felt the need to force that bloke backwards, that he'd been trailing too closely to what was my territory.

This, however, was a different sensation and settled in the back of my throat and spine. I didn't want to shove him away from her while trying to shield her from his eyes as if that'd make him forget her memory. No, this wasn't the same rudimentary gut reaction to the possibility of a man trying to flirt with my Ara, rather I felt insulted _for_ her.

He couldn't even recall the name of her Niffler, calling it 'the rat' was an ignorant choice-I was 70% sure she could name everything the little cretin had eaten today! I found it vaguely insulting that he'd even wondered if she'd give him the time of day.

He'd only ever hold her back if he tried to appeal to her intelligent sensibilities, . The Muggle wasn't trolling near what was mine nor did I think he was likely to try and fish around, Queenie was far more than the Muggle could handle already.

Ara hadn't shown any interest in people other than me for the last few months, something that I wish he'd understand instead of stalking her every breath. He hadn't tried to touch her-which was a good thing for him-seemingly only watching her as she felt his forehead, he was watching her _too_ much. Something I apparently didn't enjoy other men doing either.

It would seem that his neck had suddenly gotten tired as his head began to slowly lean forwards after her hand fell away from his forehead. She leaned down to his face, using her hands to balance herself atop the arm rests on either side of his frame.

She evidently hadn't noticed his leering, still inspecting his eyes and neck now with a look of concentration. "He definitely needs rest or I suspect he'll flop onto the floor soon."

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 **So I ended up having far too much text for a single chapter! Which means that the next chapter (in a maximum of 2 weeks) will have some of Newt's POV**


	26. Chapter 26

**So I decided to put my responses to reviews at the bottom of this chapter because, well...its a giant one. Sorry for totally dipping out on the 2 weeks, my grandmother was having health issues-no worries though! She's all good now.**

 **If you want to read my personal experience with a plastered guy in the Hog's Head pub, it's here.**

Just to set the scene here, I've been in the park for a good bit of the day and me-being the ever prepared park-goer I am-checked the weather to see that it'd rain in the next few hours. So, my parents and I all head into what we thought was the Hogs Head pub (it was not.) Accidentally yelled at the poor girl who was taking my order because my ADD doesn't give me much leeway for voice control when everything is loud around me or I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

But eventually we get our food and sit down in the pub portion of this eating arena. This is where my story actually starts and it's actually quite short!

We were eating and noticed that the servers were quite adamant that you needed to be eating in order to sit at a table, what do we do? We eat as slow as humanly possible.

The server had sat us down at the table closest to the gigantic fireplace, across from the bar and closest to the door which led out to a patio seating sort of thing. Basically, I figured that my apologising to the girl I'd yelled at before meant that we got the best seats! We were close to the bar, but not too close and near the door which mean a constant cool breeze.

It rains-like my phone said it would-and dozens of people start coming in the front door. In wanders in a guy that I didn't realise was as drunk as he actually was, like how do you actually drink enough to get drunk at an amusement park? How can you afford such a thing-outside of bringing it in with you, of course.

He gets into the booze line after nearly falling onto me in his haste and I figured out that this dude was not only drunk but also high as balls. Well it wasn't so much of a slight fumble-it was closer to a collision, if I'm being honest with you guys. I mean we genuinely almost had an issue where my face was going to taste my chicken pot pie and I was going to just out right lose my bloody head with him.

We're all good though. My eye's aren't scalded by chicken and the line moves up. Now he's by the patio doors (you'll recall the ones I mentioned earlier which gave us the awesomely cool breeze.) I guess, in his head, that meant it was the perfect time to pull out his vape and just go to down on blowing clouds out into the pub.

Two puffs down and a girl that doesn't look much older than me comes stomping down and they share a few words, we all assume she's the manager. He nods, puts away his vape pen and she goes away to wherever she'd come from. Maybe a _minute_ later, this dude pulls out his freaking vape pen again and the girl comes back but she's not just speed walking-she's almost _sprinting_ towards him.

I don't know about him, but I was actually worried for a second that she was going to tackle me for eating too slow or something. Hell hath no fury like this gal did.

She's yelling, he's confused and my parents and I-along with half of the room-are now watching the show. She's not very big, perhaps 160-165 cms, but holy crap-she's scary when she yells.

Anyway, a bit of pushing goes along with the show. He's not allowed inside the pub any more, curtsey of the two bigger guys that seemed to just suddenly come out of the walls.

I got to chat with a rather charming bartender, who informed me that "fire-whiskey is only produced in the Wizarding world" when I asked if it was just _Fireball_ (who knew, right?) We also got a lovely show _and_ got to beat most of the rain! Awesome trip all together.

 **If you reviewed last chapter, see the bottom of this chapter.  
** **Otherwise, Enjoy!**

* * *

Suddenly, I found myself out of my seat with little idea as to what I'd say or do when I got within arm's reach of the Muggle. But, I'm not sure I actually cared that I had all of zero plans. I just knew that he wasn't about to continue his visual exploration-at least not with my inadvertent blessing by lack of action.

Apparently, I didn't need to have an idea considering that the Niffler obviously had one already. A series of growling clicks came from Ara's shoulder-oddly enough, I felt like the Niffler and I were of the same mind for once.

Abruptly she pulled away from the Muggle, "sorry!"

"Uh," she grimaced before twisting her head to peer at the Niffler with worry and confusion, "what's gotten into you?" The thought of the Niffler and I having a similar mindset was was terrifying enough to send my body into a slowed stroll. I'd slowed enough that I joined Ara's side in what I hoped was a casual manner.

Kowalski glanced up at me appearing confused, guilty, and vaguely embarrassed when I'd come to a stop. "Maybe he's just tired as well," I supplied with a pointed look in the man's direction before glancing back to Ara who was still distracted with her pest.

He'd quickly averted his eyes in such a way that I knew he implicitly understood what I'd found to be infelicitous behaviour. "Yeah, no-I _definitely_ need to go to bed." He nodded, standing up warily while Queenie flittered over to fuss over his person and helped him to the bedroom with her sister.

"Newt, I think he needs to go back in the case. He's snappin' at everyone and clawing at my shirt." She murmured her fears to me with a heated voice when she'd noticed me near her.

"Ah," I went to brush a stray blond hair away from my eyes-maybe even respond to her-but found my mind pre occupied by the hand in my pocket. It was grasping my wand with unnecessary force and after a reminder that I still hadn't responded, I focused on my other palm.

Unfortunately, I'd discovered that the other hand was tightened in a fist by my side-but I was determined to be smooth. Maybe I'd somehow pass for being relaxed right now, even if my entire body was set against it.

Apparently my hands were debating between hitting him and hexing him, two things that I hadn't consciously considered until now. I forcibly relaxed the hand on my wand, bringing it out to straighten my coat in an attempt to feel less foolishly compulsive as I turned to face the two that were waiting on my answer.

Unclenching the fist I'd made by my side, I dragged my sweaty fingers through my hair while gazing down at Ara who was peering at me with a furrowed brow. "Well," I paused as the Niffler and I made eye contact-I'd been too focused on playing off my aggression to actually respond to her and he'd spotted it.

In the past, I'd found it extraordinary that Ara could even possibly _begin_ to communicate with the little cretin, but right now his message was clear as day. His beady little eyes and snappish click at my prolonged silence had informed me that he found the Muggle's leering distasteful...I had to agree with him for once.

"Newt?" I blinked, realising that she was still watching me with her brows now drawn tightly together. "Right," I hummed in thought while I stared into her eyes, shaking my head in an attempt to remind my mouth to open.

I finally responded, "no," I cleared my throat warily. "No he doesn't need to go in the case. In fact, I think he ought to get a galleon or two." I wasn't sure who was more surprised by what I'd just said, Ara or the Niffler.

The Niffler reacted first, drawing my stare to his place on her shoulder with his clicking and nickering all at once in a rapid and viciously excited fashion. That was apparently all it took for Ara to snap out of her astonishment.

I watched as she retorted just as rapidly to each one of his sounds, "he's not serious! You're not getting any of those things, Aurelius. Do I _have_ to remind you of your pastry extravaganza? Mhm. You're lucky I don't send you off right now."

Suddenly, I found myself sequestered back to thinking it was extraordinary she could possibly even begin to understand him. But I didn't mind the resumed ignorance, it anything I was happy for it.

In fact, it occurred to me that it felt as though all was right with the world once more. The thought made me smile as they continued to go back and forth now that the Muggle had scurried off towards the bedroom, it was as if we were back in the case once again.

I watched her eyes flare up with a delicate scoff before they rolled and the light caught them. It'd garnered further study when I spotted a fleck of something lighter than the earthy brown I was familiar with when she'd glanced back at me, but the flecks disappeared just as quickly with another roll of her eyes. I'd once compared hers to doe eyes-that hadn't been entirely right.

Hers were far more dark than any doe I'd ever seen-they were closer to a beetle's shell really. It wasn't that I found hers to be disagreeable, quite the opposite really.

She was capable of communicating as much as a creature could with a stare and I hadn't found such a quality in any other human to date. I didn't mind staring into her eyes, something that would have been rather disorienting to know about myself a few months ago but now I'd appeared to have embraced it.

I'd realised they possessed an off-putting veil of melancholy when she wasn't laughing. But hers was a veil so thin that you mightn't always notice it's ability to turn all the glimmers of happiness into a matted sheen. I hadn't actually noticed it at first. Of course I'd been too busy with trying to avoid her eyes and biting back my annoyance at her incessant need for praise.

I'd strived to make her laugh and smile more often in hopes that eventually, she wouldn't have that trait any more. Well-placed jokes and small things like cooking her eggs a particular way were good for curing the brown of any lingering sadness for the most part. Though I often felt as though maybe I faile-

"Mr Scamander?" A soft lilted voice called for my attention, one that broke the fantasy I'd built up of Ara and I being alone once more.

A sigh told me it'd demand my attention, "Mr Scamander?" I brought my head up and my thoughts away from the two I found most interesting in this room to Queenie who was eagerly awaiting my attention as she lingered a little off to the side of us.

"Hm?" Carefully, I placed my eyes just to the side of her face as I acknowledged her. She appeared to be smiling by the dimple in her cheek, "would you be so kind as to help me move the sofa? I'd use magic but I'm worried we'd break some of our mama's knick-knacks."

"Ah," I nodded without really paying her words much attention, still distracted by my companion and her Niffler's lack of disagreement.

I glanced back at Ara when she'd snorted with derision, "sure." She'd raised a brow at a Niffler who had apparently figured out he wouldn't win his mistress's favour by bickering, resorting to petulance.

"Of course." I nodded again at the blond witch.

Placing a guiding hand near Ara's waist, I leaned in a little closer than I knew was necessary. "I'll be in bed shortly."

She glanced up at me with her eyes wide and her voice oddly high, "what?" I took a moment to observe the pink lightly colouring her cheeks before repeating myself, "I said I'll be in bed shortly." I allowed my hand to come up and brush back a blonde curl that hid away a sliver of her right eye.

"Right." She gave me a mechanical nod before turning and almost running away in a mad dash to the bedroom that the other Goldstein was inside with the Muggle.

Ara's hasty departure left me to wonder what part of my actions had elicited that reaction as I turned and began pushing the Goldstein's sofa to one side of their sitting room. Her darting away wasn't new, I'd seen it before on the stairwell at the Muggle's flat, but both times I'd just barely touched her waist and spoken. Was it the physical contact? Or the voice I used?

I knew she was hesitant with physical contact, especially if she wasn't fully awake. But, that development was a more recent one. In the past she'd been relaxed when just grabbing my hand and tugging me along if I didn't move as quickly as her. Had I done something? I couldn't recall anything in particular.

Since last month there'd been several mornings that I'd woken up to find our limbs entangled. I'd continually failed to rectify it with the thought that I found the closeness to be quite helpful for a good rest. Usually I'd just shut my eyes again only for her to wake up a short while later and jerkily roll away from me-typically into my desk's leg.

Perhaps I could start varying my tone from lower to higher and not touch her. I'd have an obvious answer for any reaction from my voice and I could repeat the experimentation with only touching her, not speaking at all. By then I'd be able to combine the two an-

"She's just a person, you know." I stopped my slow push of their sofa and turned my head, giving the witch a look I knew she'd understand well enough, "stay out of my head."

Ara wasn't just _a_ person, she was-well...She was _her._ I couldn't find the right words to describe her, only particular actions. She was someone who'd unknowingly fought their way under my skin. While no one knew what she actually thought, I'd eventually learn all of her quirks well enough that we wouldn't have to talk about every little thing-like the kisses.

"I'm just sayin' Mr Scamander, I might not know what's goin' on in her head," she pointed over me towards the bedroom with a shrug. "But I know how girls in love act, and she's-" I shook my head, cutting her off. "She's not like you, or your sister, or any one I've ever met really. It's foolish to try and perceive her actions for her." I continued pushing the sofa until it'd touched the wall and my job was done.

"Anything else?" I turned, keeping my eyes just on the side of her face out of habit.

She shook her head, "no. I've got from here." It registered that her tone was clipped but I didn't particularly care, she shouldn't have tried to tell me how Ara was acting. It wouldn't be authentic, only her body could tell me how she was acting and a Legilimens had no place in the matter.

I didn't respond to her, turning and going straight into the bedroom. I passed by the other Goldstein on my way, who I could feel giving me an odd look while I deftly pulled my arm against my side in an effort not to graze her skin.

It wasn't done out of disgust or disdain, if anything I'm sure she was very hygienic; I just simply didn't care for the contact from her. She'd been more of a passing consideration while I focused entirely on the care with which Ara was currently attempting to convince the Niffler to slide into the case. We'd already discussed our plan away from prying eyes and curious ears but if he didn't oblige, it was possible he could derail the whole thing all together.

* * *

 **Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967/ firemadein789/ LoveFiction2019/CrystalVixen93/ guest 17/ acetwolf94:** Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement! I hope you enjoyed the second part of Newt's POV just as much :)

 **bored411:** Ironically I have the whole death potion scene done already, somehow I forgot about the mating dance! And yes, I figured him studying her would be a good option for how Newt goes about romance in his head.

 **4:** Oh no! I hope you've been focussing on school! Yes, we _did_ just see Newt get jealous (in his own way, of course.) I imagine that Jacob will be brought on the creature recapture missions, but he may not play as much of a part depending on how I decide to do this next bit. Also, as for the occlumency and all that jazz-you read essentially what I read whilst researching the concept. So, to put it plainly, yes. He could invade her mind because she was constantly upset or anxious as her ability is one that she doesn't really _have_ to think about constantly to be able to do it-she just does it! Very good on your deductions! As for Ara's ex-boyfriend, well...no spoilers just yet!

 **KaylaWilton:** Awe! I think this might be the first time I've ever been happy to infect someone with something. :) Don't go too hard on Jacob though, hes still 90% delirious. I have to be honest, I kinda used the fact that he constantly leered at Queenie whilst sick to have him leering at both Ara and Queenie (though Queenie definitely takes the cake for him!)

 **Guest:** So unfortunately I never went on the minions ride, mainly because I rode revenge of the mummy so much that I didn't even think about it. Though I do wish I could have seen some snow this season. I think I miss seeing snow and the leaves change the most. Also, don't worry about the TMI! You'd be surprised to know how many people get on their phones right after a shower.

 **Axarell:** Confession time...I didn't get the hot butter beer. But I did drop by Hogs Head (after being incredibly confused when I got food and they said 'we don't serve alcohol in The Three Broomsticks') I know you're not supposed to do it _technically_ but I ended up combining fire-whiskey with my butter beer. Actually I believe it was at the recommendation of a particularly charming bartender! I never got to see Queenie's wand, I think maybe they were all out of hers? I'm not sure, but I did get a look at Newt's and Grindelwalds. Thanks a bunch for your tips and I hope you got to read my story above!

 **TheWonderfulShoe:** It was a bit perilous for sure! But, don't mind him-he's harmless, just sick.

 **GreyMoonHuntress:** I'm sure that if Ara actually realised what was going on in Newt's mind half the time, they'd have slept together already.

 **XxRikela-chanxX:** I've always wondered this, which is actually more polite? Bum or arse? Does anyone actually put them on different levels? Sorry, rambled a bit there. Newt getting jealous was fun to write, only because he doesn't _really_ show it on the outside.

 **mutedsymphony:** I'm happy you've enjoyed all the details! I do spend quite a bit of time wondering if they're truly in character or not but often enough, I hope they are.

 **Gina:** Somehow, when I first read your review I read 'geht' as the German word for 'go'. I realise this technically has nothing to do with your review so I'll stop going off on a tangent and just say thank you so much for the review! :)


	27. Chapter 27

**Hi all! This not-so-little blurb is for those that reviewed last chapter:  
**

 _KaylaWilton:_ Ah, yeah. I really can't blame ya, though I'm glad to know that you ship them together! A lot of people seem to read my OC stories and then critique the pairing for some reason.

 _bored411_ _:_ You know, I hadn't thought of them as 'advances' until you said something. That is an apt description of what he's up to, even if he doesn't consciously realise it! This chapter doesn't touch much on what happened in the living room/parlour area as it happens, rather its more of a background thought (if that makes sense.)

 _4:_ I know that I'll probably never meet you or even be in the same building as you, but your reviews can really make a girl's day! Thank you for coming back to this story despite the pro-longed updates, though Harry Potter world was awesome. Now then, time to buckle down and address all the things you've picked up on! :) I underlined different bits in case there's something I miss and for easier reading.  
Ara's ability to lie, as her creator-type-person I've never spent much time considering _why_ she can lie so well and I ought to. With her background and her personality in mind, I feel like it comes from a combination of the situation she's been involved in over the years and her core? Core as in what drives her to do what she does throughout her life, which for Ara, I think its a need to have some control over her life. I say that because she had 0 control over her parents death, basically grew up in a boarding school where she had 0 control, and had 0 control over what she saw happening to people during WWI. She doesn't need to have full control simply because she isn't manic-just a touch traumatised-so there's an understanding that she can't control _everything_ people do.  
The Occlumency and Legilimency is a little more difficult to dissect. Seeing as she's a natural Occulmens, I'd say that it just sort of enhances her ability to lie and disguise what she's actually feeling. I mean there's just some people that are _awful_ at lying, no matter how many times they do it or try-they're just terrible liars. Just like there's terrible liars, there's others that are great at it without any effort! Of course, just like with Occlumency/Legilimency as well as lying, you don't do very well at it when you're stressed and so far Newt's been stressing the hell out of her (wink-wink, nudge-nudge.)  
She may very well possess some form of Legilimency, but the canonical-based answer for that would be that Legilimency only works on animals with a near-human or human level of intelligence. They need the ability to organise their thoughts with smells, sounds, and feelings into memories as a Legilimens can only peruse one's memories. Beasts like Nagini, Mer-people, or centaurs would be vulnerable but I'm not sure that a Niffler would be the same as they seem to be quite intelligent but possess their own undetectable charms.  
Newt's point of view was fun but rather difficult to write! I wanted to keep him in character but we don't really see any sort of romantic Newt in the movies. It leaves me to gather everything we _do_ know about him and somehow translate that into romance à la Newt. I did watch Crimes of Grindelwald! It helped a bunch to write out what Ara sees in the Grindelwald version of Percival Graves during her interrogation which will be up in about 3 chapters.

 _Ivana blackmouth:_ I am ever so sorry about the lack of romance! Its so hard to write a romance for a character that appears to be one the least romantic on the planet and not make it feel forced. Also, super-duper sorry but I most likely won't be updating once a week for the next few months! I explained a bit on that at the bottom of this chapter. I _will_ , however, include your occamy hatching and imprinting on Ara with Newt idea for you. I hope that helps with the lack of updates!

 _GreyMoonHuntress:_ It is kinda funny, to be honest. I've no idea if its an obsession that Newt has or if he's just absolutely fascinated with having an effect on a woman he's attracted to for the first time in his life. I kinda see Newt as thinking hes the mummy, Ara's the daddy, and the creatures/beasts are their foster kids-the family scene, but one where they go live in the woods and everyone leaves them alone.

 _guest 17:_ I'm glad you like it so far and that Newt is reacting just how you'd think he would! :)

 _Guest:_ Awe, thank you. I've never heard wonder or unique used when describing my writing style! People usually get very confused with it, like confused to the point that they leave a review specifically to communicate how upset they are that I've confused them and to write better. This is when I wish I could use emojis on here because I'd add on a crying-laughing face right now.

 _acetwolf94/LoveFiction2019:_ Thank you for the encouragement and for reading so far! :) I swear I'm trying my best to update more often!

 **If you didn't review last chapter, please enjoy!**

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I'm not entirely sure as to how our plan of checking on the creatures and then escaping meant that I now found myself shoved into a twin bed with Newt. Somehow he'd decided this was the smart decision-I, in all of my mighty wisdom-agreed.

I should pay more attention to what he says, shouldn't I?

Its not my fault-okay it technically is, but I refuse to take the blame. He threw me for a loop with the whole arm on my waist and touching my hair thing, it'd been uncharacteristically smooth.

I wondered if maybe he'd done it as a tit for tat type of thing for my gawking at him being a gentleman. But then again, he'd never been much of a guy driven by vengeance. Originally, I'd decided that Newt was just a bit of an odd duck and I'd simply have to accept all of his assorted oddities. I wasn't so sure now.

He obviously _knew_ how to be charming and promptly choose not to be most of the time unless he could leave me flustered. It was annoying and vaguely upsetting, like he'd somehow tricked me into thinking he was just this clumsy awkward mess of an enthusiastic guy. He hadn't attempted to trick me, as far as I knew anyway, I'd just made that assumption all on my own while travelling with him.

Though, I had to admit I was glad he wasn't a charmer 24-7, not that I'd ever mention that little fact aloud. Goodness knows the man attracted enough feminine attention as is, I'm not sure I'd be able to fit into the same room as him if he were suave _all_ the tim-

"That Queenie's a real doll, isn't she?" I glanced across the room at Kowalski who was happily sitting in Queenie's bed, holding my copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ in his hands. It'd been my best idea as to what reading material to give him, something that might help him grasp the reality of his situation and magic a little better.

"Yeah. That she is." I nodded, turning to read through my own book which was actually Goldstein's I think.

It was called _Living with Legilimens,_ and I was really only half paying attention to it, distracted by the uncomfortable feeling of two grown adults in one bloody bed. It didn't exactly _help_ that we were in a relationship limbo at the moment-though I'm not sure being shoved into a twin with your teacher was any better than a guy you sort of wanted to shag.

I shifted in the bed while being annoyed that I was still wearing my trousers and boots. I was attempting to find a more comfortable spot that would help calm my thrilling anxiety and maybe even alleviate the constricting feeling of wearing trousers to bed.

I'd done this twice already since everyone got ready for bed, and at first Newt said nothing when I sat on his hand by accident. I'm quite sure that my face had turned scarlet when he gingerly pulled his hand out from under my arse. I jostled Newt's shoulder yet again in the process, but at least I hadn't sat on it? Merlin, I couldn't do anything right today, could I?

The reminder that Newt was this close sent my heart into another fit as I tried to stare a hole through the instructional guide in my lap. I didn't even understand _why_ my heart was beating so quickly right now. I mean, we'd technically slept together plenty of times-so why was this any different?

My realisation of just how much smaller I was in comparison to my companion was suddenly brought to my attention in a twin sized bed. Our physical differences hadn't been very important in the shed, there'd been plenty of room to roll around without bumping into each other as often. Maybe _that_ was why this felt so much more intimate?

I almost felt bad for my companion. His legs were close to hanging off the end and he seemed to be nearly flat against the wall while I sat up against the head board. Actually, any bit of sympathy pretty much disappeared when I'd found myself right at the edge of the bed. I pursed my lips, unsatisfied with pretty much everything in my current situation.

There was nothing to be done about it though, simply had to wait until Newt gave me the signal. I stared absent-mindedly at the book I'd picked up from Goldstein's night-table in an attempt to not focus on each place our bodies touched.

"What do you think of her?" Kowalski spoke up again, and I pursed my lips before turning my stare to him. I was beginning to get a little frustrated with these mundane questions. If he just kept pestering me-I might just obliviate the bloke myself.

"She's lovely." I shrugged, turning to glare at the same page I'd been staring at for the last 10 minutes. "Ara, I just wanted to tell you that uh," Kowalski paused when I turned my glare to him, losing my patience with this incessant chattering.

I raised a brow at his silence, wondering why he'd stop in the middle of his sentence. Did he not want me to look at him when he's talking? But wouldn't that be rude? With the only exception being Newt, I found it quite disrespectful to not look at someone when they spoke to you.

"Just wanted to tell you that you're a lovely lady." He nodded, quickly turning his eyes back to the book as he held it up higher, concealing his face.

I furrowed my brows at that and paused, reconsidering the differences between his reaction a second ago and now, ah. Well, I suppose I _do_ look like a right hag when I glare at someone after not sleeping terribly well last night and dashing about all day.

"Jacob? Sorry, I'm a little...tired is all," I smiled at him when he peeked around the book. "I think you're a lovely person as well." That seemed to do the trick as he slowly lowered the book and greeted my compliment with a warm, genuine smile.

"Thank you! You know my ex-fiancée, Mildred. She didn't think I was too great." He seemed to look downtrodden at that and I raised a brow, not entirely sure as to why he was sharing this with me.

"You were engaged? When?" I titled my head, hoping this would be enough conversation for him to not bother me the rest of the night.

"Oh, until today actually. She left me before I opened up Mr Scamander's case and that thin-" He bobbed his head up and down, staring across the room while I supplied the term he was looking for, "Murtlap."

"Yeah, that." He nodded at me, glancing back down to the book in his hands, "I found the Murtlap, after my life crashed down around me...but then I found you guys. Haven't looked back since!"

He smiled and raised the book up, "I just found out magic was real and I got strudel, it's gotta be up from here." I smiled at him, it was actually sort of lovely that all he needed to be happy was a book, strudel, and a bed.

"I hope so." I nodded at him as Newt rolled over towards me with his head still under the covers, "I'm surprised you're taking all of this so well."

He shrugged, "I'm an understanding guy, and I like it that way." I raised a brow at his wording and wondered if maybe the Murtlap bite was affecting him a little more than we'd thought originally.

He nodded to himself before turning his thoughtful gaze back to my book, "even if Mildred says I'm a pushover-I'm no pushover," he shook his head as he settled back down under the covers, putting the book on his chest. "Didn't fight in the Great War just to be a damn pushover."

I pursed my lips as he began angrily mumbling to himself. Alright, so Mildred was a touchy subject for him. I'd never fancied the name 'Mildred,' probably because it reminded me of 'mildew' and there was a Mildred in my third year potions class that constantly critiqued my cutting techniques. Might as well redirect his attention, right?

"You fought in the war?" I'd hoped my question would have him focus on something less...potentially upsetting. But after I'd heard my own words, I wasn't sure that I'd actually made it better.

I waited until he nodded, "I'm only curious because I was too." He was still staring at the book on his chest while he flipped a page, but appeared to have noticed I'd spoken when he sat back up after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh yeah?" I watched as a drop of sweat fell from his forehead and onto my book.

"Yeah." I swallowed the muted annoyance that the sight of his disgusting fluids touching something that had been a gift from my parents in order to focus on my original goal of distracting him.

"Was you uh-uh one of the, um." I raised brow when he started to snap his fingers and point at the air.

I opened my mouth to respond but was distracted by the feeling of what might have been a warm hand travelling up my thigh. I knew Newt was a bit of a cuddler in his sleep but I hadn't expected him to-well. How could he _actually_ fall asleep at a time like this? He was supposed to be pretending to sleep, not just snooze away while he felt my leg up!

"The nurses with 'em?" He glanced back at me, appearing to struggle with recalling the word, 'nurse'. I made a mental note that Murtlap bites might affect long-term memory. Briefly, I wondered if it'd be smarter to reach down and pull Newt's hand off of me before things got out of hand...no pun intended.

When the hand stopped it's journey at my hip, I found that the warmth seeping in through my jeans wasn't entirely unwelcome. New York was rather chilly and all things considered, it wasn't a bad idea for him to kip a pinch considering the day he'd had so far. Though, _I_ didn't have the chance to get any-bit unfair if I do say so myself.

"No. Infantry, actually." I hid the small smile at his expense by feeling the corners of my lips with my pointer and thumb. "I was apart of the Queen Victoria's Rifles regiment."

"Oh." Kowalski frowned, nodding slightly as though he figured the concept made perfect sense and he just couldn't comprehend it at the moment.

Alright, he deserved _some_ rest. He did get rather grumpy when he hadn't slept enough, though Newt's grumpy was more like _my_ version of surly. I was quite snappish, short, and had a tendency to spout passive-aggressive comments offhandedly whilst slamming things with more force than necessary. Grumpy me was rather similar but instead of getting over it in a few minutes, I took a few hours.

"Where were you guys?" He furrowed his brow, seemingly unfamiliar with my regiment's name. I pursed my lips for a short second, uncomfortable with the subject now. I'd been hoping this would just get him to start rambling on about the glory of his war days, but no such luck.

"We spent a good while in France. Course we spent most of the war in the trenches, so its all possible you were near us-just too far away for us to meet." I detailed what I was willing to recall of my time in the trenches and sat back.

We were mainly just in France because we'd ran out of soldiers. Out of the 150 people we'd started with, only 14 of us emerged on the other-side. Hard to press on when you lost that many men.

"But, you're a woman," his mouth dropped open in shock. I slid my hand under the blue cotton blanket to scratch my upper thigh when Newt's hand seemingly twitched, squeezing my hip lightly. While I knew he was just asleep-that it hadn't been on purpose-the knowledge of that fact didn't stop a strike of heat from rushing down to my toes.

I cleared my throat and refocused to nod at his statement of the obvious, "you're not wrong."

"I-what? Were Brits letting women into the war?" His brow furrowed even more as he watched me.

"Witches and wizards can transfigure bits of our appearance. I had a scar right here," I dragged a finger down across my right eye and stopped right below my nose. "Had a proper beard going for a while too."

"That's crazy." I wasn't sure how to take the look of incredulous shock mixed with disbelief on his face as he gawked me.

He didn't say anything else so I just sort of slowly shrugged, not willing to remember any more of that time in order to continue the conversation. I kept all of my memories from that in a nice little box in the back of my mind, and I liked it that way. The nightmares and bouts of numb despair had finally drifted away, remembering only brought those back.

* * *

 **Sorry guys, I _know_ I've been ever so slow with updates. I've got about 15,000 words just sitting in my drafts right now and I promise I'll post them at some point. My uni has started once more and because of that, course work/research papers take priority over this. I've also started working in an archives which means that about 20 hours of my week are now taken up with a job. **

**So, to make a long story short-updates will be slower than what I've been doing but I can promise there'll be an update at least once a month. My update goal for the next chapter is February 16th, 2019.**


	28. Chapter 28

_**As promised, here's the update! See? I can actually uphold my promises-sorta.**_

 _ **This is for those that reviewed last chapter!**_

 **MsCulture:** Aw! Thank you so very much for reading! I have to apologise for the prolonged lack of relationshipness between them and I swear there's a good reason. Mainly it's that I want to have them get together after a bit of jealousy, but I haven't spotted the proper place to do that in. I'm thinking that the Blind Pig might be a good one?

So, I'm a bit of an animal lover myself. Particularly dogs and horses? Of course with those, I've figured out that they do indeed have their own little personality quirks which is where I get the inspiration for the creatures personality moments!

Ironically, I actually layout the story in this manner because I absolutely _hate_ it when writers stick everything together in one gigantic paragraph. It feels like theres just to much happening for my eyes to comprehend. Thank you ever so much for being understanding! I made sure to read this chapter twice, adding in little things as I went so you guys would get a longer chapter.

 **TheWonderfulShoe:** I imagined that Queenie's difficulty with accents is probably just like our ability to struggle to understand someone when they have an accent. But the more they talk (or think, in Newt's case), the more you start to understand them.  
Ara was definitely far too distracted to notice what was happening! As you'll see in this one, she has a tendency to tune just about everything else out when she's doing something for curiosity's sake.  
They're breaking out :) I just got carried away with Newt's POV and felt like it'd required two! As for his sleepiness...well. You'll see!

 **Ivana blackmouth:** Thank you for your understanding! I just wanted to let you know that next chapter will have your occamy in it. :)

 **chlorose99:** LOL. I'm sorry. I'm a cruel author. I do love the idea of a cheeky Newt that's slowly pushing the boundaries to see just how far she'll let him go, but don't worry. You'll get a bit more of that next chapter, and I'm betting you'll absolutely love what I'll do with The Blind Pig scene. :)

 **GreyMoonHuntress:** Aurelius is _totally_ a daddy's boy-like 200%. Newt, on the other hand, I've definitely made him a little more cheeky than we got to see in the movies! Mainly because he shows he has a sense of humour, it's just a little twisted. He also seems to only show it when he feels completely comfortable, which I feel like he would be when he's covered by a blanket and it's just Ara, y'know?

 **Natsuko457:** You'll see if he's asleep or not below! I did have a bunch of fun with it though. I almost made it R-rated cheekiness, but I chopped that at the last second because it felt a bit forced.

 **najamuzen:** Right? When I first started this story and thought about her fighting in the war, I was like 'Yeah. _Of course_ she'd fight in it, it's Ara!' but then I had to map out how she'd do it, why she choose specifically to do it, and how she got away with it! Hence, le beard was born.

 **Guest 4:** Yeaaaaah. They do suck at the relationship thing. I sort of did that to myself, to be fair. Ara had to be just a little awkward to fully appreciate the range of Newt's awkwardness. But when you take two awkward people that really like each other and stick them in a shed together, they tend to be a wee bit shy. If it helps, there's going to be a chapter that will hopefully be just as explosive as how long it's taken us to get there.  
There are literally no points for them to sit down and discuss it, are there? That's craazy. I wonder how _that_ happened? (cue me whistling whilst looking completely innocent)  
Jacob, the poor man. I've accidentally turned him into the unlovable oaf! Course the pervertedness was already there, he leered at Queenie and never Tina, which I've taken as he's got a thing for blondes. Ergo, he leers at Ara too. Sorry, Jacob but you did it to yourself.  
As for Newt being a teensy bit possessive, I suppose you could see it like that. Could also just be him testing the boundaries. Or, he's just feeling a little lonely. I'll never tell! Literally. I'll never tell because there aren't any spots where they can talk about it. MUWAHAHAHA.  
So, after skimming the story up till now-she never told him about her fighting in the war. He suspected she'd been traumatised, but didn't want to push her for an answer. I'm thinking it's because he's a little awkward and a little shy since they didn't know each other very well at the time. Considering how empathetic he appears to be in the movies, I'm assuming he won't be angry but will likely make himself available should she ever feel like letting it all out to someone.  
I'm taking on your Crimes of Grindelwald questions at the very end of this chapter _just_ in case there's a reader that's going along, and hasn't seen it yet.

 **Bored411/guest 17/firemadein789/acetwolf94/LoveFiction2019/KaylaWilton** : I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter and again, huge thank you for your patience. I made sure to double this chapter out so it'll be far longer than the last one was! I hope you guys like this one just as much. :)

 _ **If you didn't review, please enjoy this chapter!  
**_

* * *

A knock sounded off at the doors as they slowly opened, and for once I was thankful when Goldstein peeked in at us. "I thought you all might like a hot drink?"

Kowalski nodded excitedly, his eyes wide and entirely focused on the tray that Goldstein brought in with her. Three mugs that appeared to be a random selection of cups they'd accumulated over the years were spaced out in an odd little triangle on the tray. I wasn't sure as to what they were full of, but it was definitely hot considering the steam that rose over each cup.

"Alright," she mumbled as she closed the door behind her with her heel while balancing the tray of cups in her hands.

I took in her nightwear-if it could even be called that-while she padded into the room. Faded blue stripes covered her top and legs that ended in slippers that looked to be well past their expiration date. Though, even with all of that, I felt the frumpy looking pyjamas oddly suited her-not in _bad_ way, per-say. They just...looked homey.

I watched quietly when Kowalski took his mug from her tray. "Thank you," he nodded, sounding genuinely grateful that she'd do such a thing for him.

It took me a second of eyeing the pair, just silently watching when she gave him a small smile and he happily sipped his drink. She'd already turned towards me and began shuffling over before my inner-sense of logic told me I should probably move-and maybe not be so bloody creepy with all my staring.

I dropped my book into my lap in a hurry, feeling a little bad when it hit both Newt's head and hand at once. He'd definitely noticed the smack considering his hand gripped my hip a little tighter. I didn't allow myself to actually stop and apologise though, if I focused too long on his face's position that close to my hips, I'd wind up blushing for the rest of this evening.

Instead, I just focused on making space. With a quick, jerky sweep of my arm, I pushed back a tower of books on the night-table next to me right as she came over to Newt and I's cot.

"Here you go." She wasn't as friendly with me, it seemed. She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes, which was rather fair with all things considered.

"Thanks." I almost smiled at her but stopped myself just short, carefully taking the glass she'd handed me off of her tray.

I'm not entirely sure as to the decorum one was meant to have with their prisoners, but I was about 80% certain that serving them hot cocoa wasn't on the list. Is there a list? No, probably not. That'd be silly.

"Hey, Mr. Scamander-" Kowalski cheered, holding his mug up to Newt.

He was just as still as he'd been before I dropped a book on his head, breathing evenly. "Look, cocoa!" He shook his cup a little, trying to tempt my companion as though Newt could see through the covers.

He slowly retracted his cup back to sip it once more and I gave Kowalski a small smile of pity before turning my gaze up to Goldstein's. She obviously understood that he wasn't asleep-at least he wasn't _supposed_ to be. But, either-way, I wasn't about to correct her. It'd probably take another few hours for us to discuss it all before she tried to haul us off to face their government again.

"Mhm." She tucked the tray under her arm, holding out another mug that stirred itself while she glared at Newt's form under the covers. I pursed my lips, feeling a teensy bit annoyed at her sour disposition, but focused on setting my mug on the table. It sat with a soft tap before I reached out to take his whilst avoiding her eyes the entire time.

"Thanks again," I mumbled, uninterested in staring her down from this height. Cripes, the woman's got a good glare on her. I almost wanted to her ask for tips.

"I'm sure he'll drink his in the morning." I grasped the new mug and wrapped my hands around it, feeling the pleasantly warm cup in my hands as she sighed.

I didn't know why I was trying to ease any negative feelings she might have for my companion, I mean what was the point? She was troublesome...but she did give us cocoa and, as far as I could tell, hadn't poisoned us just yet. Plus, isn't it always a good idea to make friends with your prison's guards? Wouldn't that mean that they'd take it easy on you?

"Toilet's down the hall to the right." Goldstein nodded at us, turning around and heading back out the door with a bit of a stomp. Testy.

"Thanks..." Kowalski murmured as the doors opened and he leaned over a little, peering out of them, "very much." It didn't take a genius to know what he was leering at on the other side considering how quickly Goldstein shut the door behind her.

I ignored the fact that he was obviously attempting to catch a look at Queenie in her nightwear with only a hint of disbelief at his perverted actions. I sipped Newt's cup and sighed to myself in satisfaction at it's taste while watching Goldstein's back until she'd closed them. I _do_ like cocoa, you know-I wasn't a heartless monster.

It felt safest to simply wait a few minutes in silence, drinking my cocoa until I felt like the flat had gone entirely silent. So, I did exactly that. Waiting and sipping my cocoa whilst trying my best to ignore the sensation of Newt's hand wrapped around my hip.

I think, maybe, a total of 15 minutes had passed by the time I figured out I was tipping an empty cup towards my mouth. Instead of continuing to suck on air, I turned a little, sitting the cup quietly onto the table beside me. Now, I wasn't sure what to do-I mean I _knew,_ but I didn't know what the etiquette was when getting out of bed whilst having someone touching you.

I took in a deep breath and released it before deciding I'd simply have to let gravity take control. I underestimated how hard the Goldstein's floor was when I let my body relax, bracing myself as I promptly slipped off the side of the bed.

I landed with a soft thud, and tried to stand confidently. "You okay?" Kowalski was quick, nearly out of bed when I'd stood up fully.

"Yes, yes." I nodded at him for a second.

I'd been dealing with all of his incessant chatter because I'd been worried that he'd feel the need to say something. Perhaps shout it, though it wasn't as though he knew what shouting was. The bloke seemed to shout whilst just making regular conversation, and if he did feel the need-he'd give us away to the Goldstein's who were less than a few metres away. What was the saying? Keep your friends close, but your potential enemies closer? Close enough.

"I'm fi-" I opened my mouth to quell his worries, dusting my front off in an attempt to at-least appear like I'd _meant_ to do that, "ah!" A short gasp was all I could muster when Newt jumped up out of the bed.

I took a full step back out of fright as Newt seemingly paid me little mind while he simply stepped off to grab his case from the foot of the bed. My hand was over my heart, while I forced a single breath out of my nose out of annoyance.

His eyes were neither red nor bleary and he wasn't bothering to even glance at me while he plopped his case in between the two cots. Alright, the cheeky bastard hadn't been asleep at all while he groped me.

I didn't glance at Kowalski as Newt opened the case and motioned for me to go first. I pursed my lips, letting my hand fall away from my chest with the building need to smack Newt's shoulder out of pure exasperation. But, instead of opening my mouth to rag on him, I just took a step over and focused on getting into the bloody case.

It didn't take me long to shimmy down the ladder, and I didn't miss a step which was rare seeing as how difficult the ladder was to smoothly manoeuvre down. It took me maybe a few seconds of silently applauding myself before I set about checking the feeding chart to see who'd eaten and who needed to be fed.

We'd agreed that Newt was tasked with healing the muggle while I fed everyone and noted who was missing. After a short glance at the chart I realised that the mooncalves, Graphorns, a hippogriff, and Frank hadn't eaten since breakfast, almost 12 hours ago.

"Where's the meat?" I snappily posed my question to the legs of Newt letting my eyes trail up his figure. I'd been expecting him to be farther down by now. He seemed to have his hand out of the case still? That was odd.

He glanced back down at me, "um. One moment, Ara." His attention was drawn back up to the top of the ladder, "come on!"

Newt was obviously impatient with Kowalski's slow movements, making me smirk a little when he clambered down the stairs and darted over to a cupboard near the tropical gear we'd used in India. Is it bad that I sort of enjoyed him being bothered right now? He had left me all hot and bothered for the last hour or so. It was only fair, right?

He'd opened it's doors, and began digging through the standing cupboard. It's extendable charm often proved to be more of an annoyance as he never organised anything, despite my many complaints. But, I was rather thankful for the chaos now, showed him.

I heard the ladder groaning, and turned away from Newt to spot Kowalski's feet while he jumped up and down, muttering something I couldn't hear. I pursed my lips, wondering if he'd gotten stuck by any chance.

I'd decided to wave my wand without giving it much thought, intent on pulling him down from the case's lid. Unfortunately I hadn't focused on just pulling him down from the case's down, and felt a little bad when he'd come crashing down onto the shed's floor.

"Sorry about that." I mumbled my apology sheepishly at the disoriented man, stepping around his legs in an effort to feel like there was more space in here. I wasn't used to being in the shed with more than two people, not even Dumbledore had come in when he'd dropped by in Equatorial Guinea.

Kowalski didn't appear to have heard me, standing up with a low groan. I watched him as he peered at Newt's tired looking typewriter next to his pile of manuscripts as well as the medieval bestiary on Newt's desk with curious eyes. A swollen hand reached torwards the typewriter's keys, as though it's owner wanted to push one of the buttons.

"I wouldn't touch that, " I sighed my warning as I went around him. A wave of my wand helped piece together some of the potted herbs that had fallen and shattered before directing them back onto their shelf above Newt's desk.

I heard Newt's low grunt as he hauled out a slab of beef from the cupboard. The wood creaked under the meat's weight while I practically snubbed Newt, my gaze solely on the meat as I walked by him.

"Here you are," he called my attention as he set it on his workbench with a huff, but I wasn't willing to give it to him just yet.

I focused instead on finding all the smaller instruments and vials that Kowalski had knocked down before directing them back to their rightful places around the shed with a few waves of my wand.

"Ara," Newt tried again and I elected to respond this time.

"Thanks." I was short, ignoring the fact that I could feel Newt's eyes staring a hole into my backside. I slipped my wand back into it's holster on my hip before turning, ignoring his gaze still.

Newt appeared to have understood what I was doing and moved around me, gathering vials from his medicine chest to start putting together a concoction for the Muggle. Sardonically, I considered that one positive aspect of Newt and I's companionship was that we'd developed the ability to smoothly move around each other in the shed.

"What's that for?" Kowalski lingered over my shoulder and I pursed my lips, shifting away from him at the feeling of his breath going down my neck.

"It's to feed Frank, a hippogriff, and the Graphorns," I answered, paying him only half my mind.

I was more interested in figuring out how to cut up bits and pieces of the beef Newt had dropped off. It needed to be evenly divided between Frank, the hippogriff, and the Graphorns.

They'd recently had a foal which meant that the female needed a bit more as the foal wasn't eating solids yet and relied on her. But Frank's diet was supplemented by grubs, which he loved. The hippogriff didn't eat as much in it's older years, so it'd get the smallest portion.

"That's...good." Kowalski muttered behind me, which made me smile a little. I supposed he wasn't dealing so well with magic now and the vindictive part of me was happy to have some company in my personal misery. Though I did hope he'd get over it soon, erratic Muggles were difficult to talk to.

"Will you sit down?" Newt was mumbling, sounding annoyed with Kowalski who seemed to respond by dropping down onto a crate. Hah. Now he's genuinely bothered. Take that, ya cheeky bastard.

"Ah, that's definitely the Murtlap. Ara, come over here." I glanced behind me, to see Newt waving me towards him and the Muggle. I mutely shuffled around the Muggle who appeared to be sitting on a crate of Mooncalf Pellets and raised a brow, wondering why I'd been beckoned over.

"Take a good look, you're unlikely to get the chance to study another bite on a Muggle." He nodded towards Kowalski and I obeyed out of sheer curiosity since it was true that I'd likely never see another. Honestly, I'd been holding back from analysing Kowalski as I didn't want to make him feel like a lab experiment.

Leaning closer to his neck, I peered at two small cuts on the side of his neck that were inflamed. The skin was swollen and protruded upwards around the teeth marks as though it'd already gotten seriously infected.

"Have you had any trouble remembering things that happened a long time ago?" I posed my question to the Muggle in an effort to distract him while gently pulling his stained collar away from one of the wounds. They'd scabbed over but still looked incredibly angry against his pale neck.

"Uh a little. Not much though." Kowalski mumbled, possibly uncomfortable with my proximity as I pulled away.

"Is that recent?" I posed my question with little emotion.

"No?" He didn't sound incredibly sure when I eyed him, but he wasn't even looking at me.

I didn't respond to Kowalski's answer, following his gaze behind me all the way up to Newt. He was glancing between me and the Muggle whilst applying a little too much force into making a poultice at his workstation. I raised a brow, considering the angry grinding noise that the mortar was emitting.

"He had trouble remembering things prior to 1920, thought it might be from the Murtlap." I mentioned it offhandedly to Newt who nodded at me, leaning over to make a note of that on a piece of parchment before he continued his ministrations. Maybe he was actually a lot more annoyed than I'd thought?

"You must be particularly susceptible. See, you're a Muggle. So our physiologies are subtly different." I turned away from Kowalski who frowned at me while Newt explained some of his reactions. I reached over Newt and grabbed the meat cleaver near one of the carcasses we'd dried out yesterday to store in the cupboard.

I let myself take in a deep calming breath before allowing myself to unleash all the anger and annoyance I'd felt in the last 24 hours. Feeling slightly like a depraved mad man, I raised the cleaver above my head, and felt a rush of excitement run through me.

I wielded the cleaver without a single bit of mercy, bashing it nosily against the meat. I swung it repeatedly with a modest grin until I'd decided that enough bones and tissue had been broken up so I could pull it apart with little trouble.

After dropping the cleaver beside me on the table with a loud bang, I pulled my wand out to divvy up the meat. While I might be known to be a little unorthodox at times, touching raw meat disgusted me. I'd dropped the Graphorn's pieces into a bucket nearby when I realised it'd gone entirely silent behind me. Well...the silence _might_ be my fault.

I pursed my lips realising that my violent smashing of the meat might not have been the most lady-like thing I could do with it. I comforted myself with the fact that I'd only done it with such vigour because Newt was entirely used to me-not because I was mad.

"She gets a bit excited when she feeds the carnivorous creatures." Newt commented lowly as I glanced behind my shoulder to see him smiling softly at me with his hand outstretched towards the Muggle, a few pills in his palm.

"I can tell. Remind me not to make 'er angry with that thing." Kowalski appeared to be a mixture of terrified and mildly impressed as he fumbled in trying to take the pills from Newt's hand.

"Sorry." I mumbled for the Muggle's sake before I turned back around to the remaining meat, charming it to move itself accordingly to each bucket I had use of.

"Oh I wouldn't worry, Ara's propensity for violence is solely magical based. She's never been one to use an archaic tool like the cleaver." Newt shook his head, apparently picking up on the Muggle's disposition.

As I magically cleaned the table's surface-since it wasn't as though Newt would-I considered that Newt was actually rather correct in his observations of me. Interesting. Perhaps he paid more attention to things outside of his creatures than I'd previously thought. He was just full of surprises today, wasn't he?

"Pardon." I mumbled, going around Kowalski who had seemingly stood up while I'd been unleashing my inner nutter. I still needed to grab the Mooncalf pellets before I'd go out to check in on all the habitats and feed those who hadn't been fed already by Newt's system.

"What you got there?"

I picked my head up as I pulled on a bag of pellets to see if Kowalski was speaking to me. When I saw his back, I let out a small breath of relief. He wasn't, which meant I could simply continue my ministrations of pulling the bag away from the others. Hopefully I wouldn't cause the pile to tumble down atop me...that'd be embarrassing.

"Well, this—the locals call "Swooping Evil"—not the friendliest of names." I paused, still gripping the corner of one bag while a wave of dread washed over me at the sound of it's name.

"It's quite an agile fellow." Newt appeared to be explaining the one creature he was far more fond of than I was, despite it's own affections for me. I glanced around Kowalski's frame to see it was still in it's cocoon. Oh, thank goodness.

I turned my focus back to the teetering tower of feed. I hated the bloody thing and I wasn't about to be in here if it was out of it's cocoon. There wasn't enough space in here for me to be able to crawl out the door in time.

"I've been studying him. And I am pretty sure his venom could be quite useful if properly diluted. Just to remove bad memories, you know." I mean...I was sure his venom was useful but-

"NEWT!" I squealed as I heard a high pitched howl and the flapping of that bloody thing's wings right as Kowalski shuffled back from it, knocking into me. I stood up, pushing the muggle to the side as I glowered at my companion's stupid idea of a joke.

"Every time." He grinned at me, as I struggled to form words to yell at him. "You-you! Just-argh!"

I came about one octave away from growling at him as I pointed an accusatory finger but found I couldn't actually think of something to shout for once. It wasn't as though this was the first time he'd surprised me with his Swooping Evil, in fact it wasn't even the third time.

"This the _sixth_ time you scared me with that bloody thing." I groaned, going back to opening the bag of pellets as I'd honestly lost my enthusiasm to scold him.

"But he li-" Newt began as I cut him off, waving a hand dismissively while I scooped up pellets with a cup. "Yes, I know!" I threw the pellets into the bucket with a good measure of force.

"He _likes_ me. What he likes is his next ruddy meal; this is small space, you know." I grumbled, dropping the cup back into the bag before aggressively zipping it shut and stomping past the vaguely traumatised Muggle in my midst.

"One of these days he's going to reach me." I mumbled, dropping the bucket onto the floor next to the other three and yanking my wand in a motion that vaguely resembled a wave and a flick.

"We'll see whose laughing then, eh?" I glared at Newt over my shoulder who raised a brow as though he were entirely innocent.

"Me. I'll be the one laughin' when I come back to haunt you for the next 100 years." I gave myself a hearty nod after I'd finished my muttering and opened the shed's door.

"Probably shouldn't let him loose in here," Newt uttered behind me as I all but bloody thundered out the door.

I stopped in the doorway, scowling over my shoulder at Kowalski who was still just as traumatised looking and Newt's sorry-I-scared-you face that he always had when he played that particular prank on me.

"Well, come on then!" I scoffed, nodding towards the habitats behind me.

"Can't exactly feed anyone in here, now can we?" I raised a brow, turning my scowl from Newt to Kowalski who nodded quickly, stumbling to get out of the door when I took a step back from it. For a short second, I was genuinely worried that he'd take the bloody door frame out with him if he tripped.

* * *

 **EDITED AS OF FEB. 21, 2019:** **So I just realised, upon rereading this, that hey! There's a whole** ** _month_ between February and April! Yeah, it's called March. Hit me after randomly remembering the phrase "April showers bring May flowers," (don't ask, I have a lot of thoughts right before I go to bed.)**

 **So! My update goal for _March_ is:  March 16th,** **2019**.  
 **The following chapter's goal is April 4th, 2019.**  
Happy _super_ early birthday, you-know-who! :)

 _ **Spoiler alert!  
Spoilers for Crimes of Grindelwald!  
**_.

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 _ **If you seriously keep reading, it's your own fault, okay?  
**_

Guest 4:

Alright, lets get down into this, shall we?

So, I'm most likely doing a sequel. If there's reviewers that want it, and especially if there's anyone at all like you still reading by the time we finish this story, I'll be doing a sequel. Reviews/my own imagination literally fuel my writing, and I've got plenty of imagination to go around. In fact, this will likely be the very _first_ multi-chaptered story that I'll have ever finished.

Ara will likely be a teensy bit jealous by then. Especially if Leta pulls all of those half-arsed 'romantic but not willing to date you' moves. You know which ones I'm talking about. But, of course as I've set it up to date, Newt's got a bit of a one-track mind romantically so far. So, if/when they do all wind up in the same room, I'm thinking that there will be about a second of Newt's nostalgia right before Ara is the source of his happiness yet again.  
With that in mind, there will most definitely be some sort-of tension! I haven't decided if it'll be Leta is jealous or if Newt's jealous, or if Ara will be jealous. There will probably be a bit of mix to all three in various chapters. But, of course Ara's going to be smug throughout most of that. ;)

With Newt's assistant, that's a bit more difficult to nail down. I like the idea of him having an assistant because of two big reasons.  
One, Ara would quickly lose interest in accompanying him to all of his book related events. She'd never wanted to be a writer and the book was more of Newt's thing anyway as he was the one journaling everything down while she's trying to live in the moment.  
Two, he'd need the help simply because I can see Ara doing more of the travelling as she likely wouldn't be banned from it after this whole fiasco.  
Why? Mainly because Ara's history at the Ministry would be far more digestible in a politicians mind and she's far better at getting what she wants from people than Newt is. Her parents died due to a curse, her professors were all very fond of her when she basically lived at Hogwarts for a few years, she fought in the war, she was an exemplary student, etc. She's got a clean record and warm character references, basically.  
Plus, she's the ideal person to have travelling on a 'Ministry Business' passport when compared to the weird brother of a war hero that has a fascination with creatures and constantly gets into trouble. So, essentially-I have no idea just yet! She may only be a part-time assistant, but there's likely going to be an assistant.

As for Credence, they're _definitely_ going to meet in the next two chapters. Next chapter is focused on being in the case and all that jazz, and the chapter after is chasing down creatures. But, I'm thinking she'd get less of a maternal feeling, and more of a 'hey, I'm an orphan too. I had to deal with awful people because of that so let me help you learn how to deal.' That way, she'd take on more an 'affectionate mentor' position. One that he could turn to because she understands rather than trying to be his new mum like Tina wanted to be.


	29. Chapter 29

_**Hiya guys! I know, I know. I'm a day late! I'm ever so sorry.  
**_

 _ **I've been dealing with uni deadlines and uh. Well, there's no easy way to put this. I've had a flurry of doctors appointments due to a lovely little lump in my chest. Shouldn't be life threatening, so no worries! But it did get in the way of my updating schedule as I was just literally too exhausted to update, which I apologise for! But, I did sleep about 12 hours last night which seriously helped.**_

 _ **Also, fun fact about your writer! I started posting poetry to Tumblr under the name:**_ **gottawriteitallblr  
 _So if poetry is your thing, drop by and submit some for me to read!_**

 _ **Anyhow, below is for those that reviewed last chapter so if that's not you, just skip it! :)**_

 **Bored411:** Newt's mating dance is going to be great to write about, lol. I'm almost excited but also a little worried that I won't do it justice! It's not bad that you get a kick out of their squabbles, I do too! :) **  
**

**Chlorose99:** LOL. I do love building tension between these two. I'm glad you love the story, and if you're really that interested in a sequel, it's bound to happen! :D

 **Ivana Blackmouth:** I'll keep that in mind. ;) I do hope you liked the occamy scene. It'll likely bleed over into the next chapter as well and yay for bold Newt! :)

 **Guest 4:** I'm responding to both reviews from chapter 28 as I didn't update on time! As usual, I underlined bits and bobs so you know which portions I'm responding to. :)  
I'm so sorry(not!) :D I can be pretty evil, if I do say so myself. Plus, I can't just give _everything_ away! How would I keep everyone else on their toes? Though I appreciate you noticing the little details of their relationship together. I built those up from my own life experiences which-granted- _has_ made some of my partners wonder why I'm taking notes on how they act/speak.  
I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter that much! Though I've never bought one of the vinyl mini figures, which makes me wonder-why do you regret it? It's their eyes, for me personally, man-I can't deal with their _eyes_. They're too big, and black, and they have no pupils which creeps me out.  
 _So_ relatable. I can't even tell you the number of times I'd slammed a door shut so hard because I was frustrated with something totally outside of that poor door and it's abilities.  
As for Jacob and all of his little...quirks, well I swear he's actually a nice guy? Probably? You'll really get a kick of what I wrote about below.  
No worries, I've had the same issue where I forget what a character looks like when I want to add in a sensory detail. I have to stop and go "wait... _does_ she have  blonde hair? Did I do that?" That's why I have a separate document for a 'character profile,' where I add in stuff like Hair/Eye colour and their height/weight. I also add in significant events so I keep them in character. Helped me big time with Jacob's pervertedness when I remember she _was_ blonde and that Queenie's blonde too!  
Now then, Newt's teasing...well. I have to admit I graced Tumblr for a bit of inspiration on canon Newt and his humour, came from a post called _'Newt Scamander isn't completely a cinnamon roll'._ He swoops the swooping evil right into Jacob's face because he thought it'd be funny. He even giggles a little in the script, so I stole from the movie, of course. But I wound up sliding Ara in there since she was already a little peeved with his slight pervertedness under the sheets (ou-lala). I figured it'd help show just how comfortable they actually are with each other when they're _in_ the suitcase.  
I hope you have/had fun at Disney! I haven't been in Disney for ages and I feel like I ought to go back at some point, but Universal had so many more exciting rides!

 **GreyMoonHuntress:** Ah! You're also excited for a sequel! Yay! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter too :D

 **Sunflowette:** Oh gosh, I'm happy to hear it! I hope you love this chapter just as much :)

 **LoveFiction2019/firemadein789/** **CrystalWolfGuardain967/Guest 17:** Thank you guys for reading and reviewing, these _do_ fuel me. :D

 _ **Enjoy and happy reading!**_

* * *

"'Least Frank's still here." I muttered, using my wand to shield myself and my levitating buckets from the thundering rain.

He'd always produced it out of unhappiness or stress. As Newt came up to him to soothe him, I imagined he was quite famished by now which might have caused it. Though, the intrusion of an unknown Muggle likely wasn't helping his mood improve.

"His name's _Frank_?" Kowalski was shocked and appeared to still be getting over having an unknown creature screech in his face.

"I always thought he looked more like a Franklin, but that's just me." His eyes were wide as I nodded and peered at him while Frank's wings kicked up more dirt as he landed. I was beginning to notice just how pale the Muggle was despite how wet he was right now.

"Frank." Kowalski repeated the name to himself and nodded slowly. I raised a brow at that, but slipped my wand back into its holster once the thunderbird had quieted and the hot sun replaced what had been an angry downpour.

"You see, he's the real reason we came to America. To bring Frank home." Newt supplied while he fed Frank handfuls of grubs from his hand.

"Yeah, big beast might as well go home." I nodded as I stepped forwards, bringing one of the buckets of meat with me as I went.

"Might miss him though." I mumbled as the bucket came to a stop next to me and I focused on the meat. The three pieces followed my hand movements, flinging themselves up into the air while Frank took off after them, snatching them up with his beak before he began working on them after he'd landed once again.

"It's for the best." Newt appeared to have heard my mumbling and I glanced him.

I was taking in the way his eyes watched as Frank smacked the meat against his rock, softening it. He looked almost nostalgic despite the fact that he'd been the one to determine we needed to release him back in the wild. I suppose I just hadn't realised he'd be sad to see the bird go.

I glanced back at Frank to see his wings extended right before he seemed to get more agitated and began flapping them aggressively. "No, sorry—stay there—he's a wee bit sensitive to strangers." Newt appeared to have determined what Frank perceived as threat before I had, stepping towards me and extending his arm around me until I was tucked away from whatever he was talking at.

I leaned back from Newt to search for Kowalski, he'd apparently taken a few steps forwards, but now had his hands raised in surrender.

"Here you are—here you are." Newt worked away at calming Frank, using both hands to stroke his beak and face and releasing me from where I'd been corralled without realising.

"He was trafficked, you see. I found him in Egypt, he was all chained up. Couldn't leave him there, had to bring him back. We're going to put you back where you belong, aren't we, Frank. To the wilds of Arizona."

Slowly, I backed away from Newt as he calmed Frank down to the point the Thunderbird felt comfortable enough to go back to tenderising his meat. I watched as Newt took a step back as well while Frank ate the first bit of meat, starting on the next in the same fashion.

I had to admit it was gratifying to see he didn't spend nearly as much time softening the meat I gave him. He spent a good 10 minutes doing it when Newt fed him. Hah. _I'm_ the expert tenderiser-my frenzy paid off, so I now officially had an actual reason to lose my bloody mind with a mallet.

"Newt?" I prompted him with his name and a wave of my hand to remind him that we still had to feed the Graphorns sometimes today. He looked over his shoulder at me, "right, right."

He nodded, going back to shove the bucket of pellets at Kowalski, "take these." Kowalski seemed to be able to only grasp the bucket before Newt leaned down and grabbed up the other two filled with meat.

Fair enough. I mean I was hoping he'd just call the Graphorns; I couldn't get my voice to go low enough for them to recognise me. But if he wanted to carry a bucket or two as well, I wouldn't complain-less work for me!

We walked with Kowalski trailing behind as I took one bucket from his hands, we made eye contact for a short second. But, that was all it took for us to communicate at this point in our partnership. He understood I was waiting for him to call the Graphorns when we neared their enclosure and smiled at me.

He cupped his hands to his mouth and let out a long, low roar, one that was deep enough to call them over before we came to a stop. I glanced back at Kowalski, making sure he hadn't fallen over while carrying the Mooncalves dinner.

He hadn't fallen over per se. Instead, he was attempting to swat away a Doxy that had begun to flitter around his head and it seemed to be having a bit of fun with him. He'd swat to the left and it'd dart away to his right to pull on his ear which left him swaying dangerously.

"Careful there." I warned, watching him come to a stop near us with a bewildered expression as Newt let out another roar, "huh?"

"The Doxy?" His bewilderment only grew as he stared at me and I sighed. "Well-the thing you just tried to swat? It has a nasty bite." I surmised motioning to the mischievous speck as it rounded his head once more before flying away after I gave it a dirty look.

"Ah—here they come." Newt mumbled, dragging my attention back to the pair of Graphorns that were slowly approaching. It didn't take me long to hop the fence of the enclosure and approach them slowly.

"Wait," I furrowed my brow, strolling forwards and leaning side to side in an attempt to spot the foal out of fear it'd been one of the creatures to escape. I stopped moving at the feeling of something rough tickling my right exposed ankle as it hung in the air behind me and looked back.

"Oh, thank goodness." I breath a sigh of relief as the foal sniffed my ankle curiously before attempting to find any hint of treats I might have in my pockets by routing through what it could at its height.

"Alrigh-alright! I don't have any for you, you know that." I crouched down slowly until I was at its height. It's large black eyes seemed to narrow at me in disappointment that I'd actually bothered to appear _without_ any treats for it.

I leaned in a little closer as it seemed to almost huff, "that was supposed to be _our_ secret. What do you think would happen if you give us away?" I whispered conspiratorially, nodding towards Newt who seemed to have...hugged Kowalski's arm? That was odd, but Newt was sort of odd as a whole so I shrugged it off.

"Shh." I whispered to the foal who seemed to catch my meaning and took a lazy seat on its hind legs, waiting for me to present it's treats. I gave it a small smile as I reached into my trouser pocket for the treats I _always_ kept in my pocket.

It took me a second to pull out a crumbly cake of sorts without dropping any of the crumbs as it disintegrated. It consisted of some flour, blood, and other miscellaneous bits that were nutritious for the young as they grew. Glancing over my shoulder first, I made sure Newt was distracted before I offered it to the foal with my hand flat.

I'd had a horse as a small child and learned quickly that leaving any fingers sticking up might be interpreted as a particularly fleshy part of the biscuit. It's smaller tentacle's wrapped around the majority of my biscuit and slipped it into its mouth. Newt didn't approve of my hand feeding it as he felt doing so would 'make them expect that all humans carried treats in their pockets'.

"Ara?" I glanced back over my shoulder at Newt who was now motioning for me to come away. He was about to feed them and I nodded, the adults didn't like having us around when they ate-somehow it equated to possible competition.

"Alright, make sure you eat your dinner." I mumbled, stroking the foal's boney head before standing up and skipping towards Newt with a bit of a happy smile on my face.

"Yes, that's right. Rescue, nurture, and protect them," Newt nodded at the Muggle with a proud looking smile when I rejoined them. "And I'm gently trying to educate my fellow wizards about them. I've already got one student." I raised a brow while vaguely smiling, considering the term student for his relationship to me.

"Careful, or you might lose her after the next time you decide to tease her with a particularly distasteful creature." I snorted, pulling my wand out to begin throwing the meat out for the Graphorns. Magic helped me not get trampled in the process, learned that quickly after I narrowly escaped the enclosure with my limbs intact.

"I think she'd stick around regardless." Newt appeared to be daring me to disagree with his sly little grin, so I simply rolled my eyes and turn to focus on the Graphor-

Kowalski stared at Newt for a moment before he chuckled a little, "you sleep with all your students? I mean with your looks, that's probably a good way to ge-"

My mouth dropped open, utterly appalled as I cut him off. "We don't sleep together." I shook my head roughly, quickly holding up my free hand.

"But...I thought you two were...uh. Never mind, sorry. Forget I said anything." Kowalski frowned suddenly looking a lot less pale and a lot more red while I focused on flinging the meat into the Graphorn's enclosure with my wand out of its holster.

"You thought we were what, exactly?" Newt peered at Kowalski, looking a lot more curious than I liked. I bit my lip in an effort to force myself not to interrupt the Muggle again.

"Ah...just, uh. Well..." Kowalski had issues forming words as he resorted to just motioning at the two of us. I shared a mildly confused look with Newt who did the same to me before we both glanced back at him and waited until he could form a proper thought.

"Like, that." Kowalski pointed a finger at us, nodding.

I raised a brow, "like what?" Kowalski groaned and pointed at Newt and me again, stabbing his finger at us in the air.

"That! That thing you guys just did."

I stared at Kowalski for a good minute before sharing a look with Newt during which I wondered if he'd cured the Murtlap bite, but caused another ailment (like insanity) to arise at the same time. Newt shook his head after a moment, informing me that he hadn't done anything differently than he'd written about in his notes, so he was just as at a loss for reasons as I was.

"What did you have to drink at dinner, Jacob?" I posed the question softly, hoping that if I used a honeyed voice he'd be less likely to get aggressive when he was disoriented as he was. Perhaps he'd dabbled in a little alcohol? It couldn't have done his body any good in this state.

"I had water, look that doesn't matter. Do you two date anyone?" He groaned at us, shaking the bucket of pellets at me to which I raised a brow. I shook my head anyway though, crossing my arms over my chest despite the inclusion of my wand.

"No." Newt answered softly, studying the Muggles expressions intensely.

"Why not?" Kowalski raised a brow, motioning to us for an answer.

I simply shrugged, hard to pick up a relationship as a female that travelled alone with another male. Especially one that wasn't related to her. Though I'd come to realise that being alone with said male without any romantic connections to another person often messed with one's head. It made you start to... _feel_ things that you normally wouldn't. I'm sticking to that story, mind you.

"Why would I need to?" Newt seemed to have come to the conclusion that he had everything he wanted already, not including a romantic companion.

"Uh...the Brits _do_ know about um," he swallowed, a great big _gulp_ sound travelled across the quiet to greet my ears. I raised a brow, gawking at the round bloke that seemed to be turning into a tomato before my very eyes.

"What?" I glanced at Newt, but my companion appeared to be just as confused as I was.

"You _know._ " I stared at the Muggle once again. I was primarily confused about what exactly the British were supposed to know as he gestured at Newt with his hand in a circular motion. Did they know how to roll?

"To roll over?" I tilted my head as he shook his head, "to roll..." I thought for a moment, cataloguing all the possibilities, "the die-ta-to take a chance?" My brows furrowed when he still shook his head.

"Come on, you _know_." Kowalski turned to Newt while waggling his brows as though this explained his bout of lunacy.

"To fold clothes." Newt attempted, tucking his hand under his chin in thought when Kowalski groaned and smacked his hand against his head. "To ride a Kelpie!" Newt declared, as though he'd cracked the code and I gawked at him now.

"How is _this_ ," I mimicked Jacob's wave of his hand in a circle to Newt who frowned at me, "riding a _Kelpie_? He doesn't even know what a Kelpie is!"

"He might." Newt rolled his eyes at my exasperated mimicry, gesturing to Jacob, who stood there like he couldn't believe he was surrounded by idiots. "He's already ran into a Murtlap, whose to say a Kelpie is too farfetched?" I pursed my lips at that, he was right.

I turned to Kowalski in case I was wrong, he did seem to interact with creatures that most Muggles had the good sense to stay away from. " _Do_ you know what a Kelpie is?" I raised a brow as he groaned again, shaking his head.

"I didn't mean anything like that! I meant do you know how to bend her over a barrel and show her the 48 states!" Jacob cried out, dropping the bucket by his feet with a loud clatter, seemingly frustrated with Newt as he shook his hands at him.

"Well then," I mumbled as I drew back from him. I was confused and rather offended that he'd actually said such a thing about me.

I reconsidered his words for a moment once the confusion had passed and snorted despite the confused glance Newt paid me. He meant sex. Of course! No wonder the poor bloke was so awkward and red-faced.

"There's no need to shout at her about the 48 states. And _why_ would I show her the 48 states? Ara likely already knows about them, she's clever. I'd just point her towards a map instead of a barrel." Newt digressed, sounding a bit tetchy as he narrowed his eyes at Jacob.

"Jacob..." I pursed my lips, suddenly feeling not entirely comfortable with mentioning the possibility of Newt and me having sex. "I'm sure he knows about _that_." I nodded at him, as he peered at me for a moment before looking I'd uttered the words of the Gods into his ear.

"What do I know about?" Newt glanced between both of us as Jacob let out a long sigh.

"Good gravy, I thought you two were eunuchs or sumthin. Anyway-and I'm sorry for talkin' bout indecent things like this in front of you." He gave me a genuinely sorry look as I shrugged.

"You _do_ recall that I pretended to be a man for a few years right?" I snorted lightly, hoping to diffuse the tense feeling in the air between the three of us right now.

"Right." Jacob pursed his lips at that, looking as though I'd desecrated his mother's grave by pissing on it.

"Oh, he meant sex." Newt noted quietly as Jacob blushed again at my words and glanced to Newt. "I'm well aware of copulation," Newt mumbled, shrugging with his shoulders tight.

"Yeah. That. My point was that if you uh. Liked having it, maybe you'd want to meet a nice girl y'know?" He shrugged, suddenly becoming quite awkward again while Newt shook his head. I wasn't sure Newt had ever considered anything like that in his whole life, though I noticed Newt had begun to blush as he stared at the ground.

"No, she's nice enough and I'm not sure this is entirely appropriate." Newt appeared quite bothered as he motioned to me.

I began to feel the need to leave this particular conversation with the way it looked like it was going and intended to do so quickly. I grabbed a hold of the bucket near Newt's feet and began backing away from them, Newt frowned at me as I went.

"I'm going to go feed the Hippogriff and uh. Maybe take him into the Mooncalf habitat?" I shrugged, jerking my thumb towards Kowalski, who was still looking even more red if that were possible.

* * *

I'd already had a good mental image of all the habitats and their whereabouts. I mean I sort of had too, otherwise I'd just end up wandering about and relying on Newt for everything.

I'd just been with Jacob and the Mooncalfs. They were quilling and he seemed comfortable enough for me to go feed the Hippogriff-which went fine. I'd just intended to actually go and check on the other animals, to mentally mark them down as present or missing. So how did I now find myself in the more temperate habitats?

I was a little frustrated with my disorientation, but a soft cry dragged my attention closer to a large nest that held all the occamy eggs. They weren't supposed to have hatched so soon, I thought but at the same time...we had sort of been distracted for the last couple of days.

"Ara?" I nearly jumped half a metre into the air at the sound of Newt's voice behind me and spun around with my hand over my head, "merlin!"

He gave me a small grin, "sorry. I was just over trying to get Pickett back into his branch."

"Didn't want to go, did he?" I snorted, shifting my body a little to face Newt as he held up his right hand, "not quite ready. I suspect he's still got his cold."

"Uh huh." I raised a brow with a small smirk, not believing his excuse for one second. Pickett always 'had a cold' just like Newt always claimed he 'didn't spoil him.'

"He might!" Newt flustered, moving his hand back to his shoulder to allow the bowtruckle to cling onto his vest once again. I opened my mouth to tease him this time, but another soft cry pulled both of our attentions back to the nest.

"Did they?" I posed my question half aloud as I stared at the edge of brown twigs. I was worried that I'd actually missed the birth of our occamies whilst being lost in New York City.

"One did." Newt confirmed, sounding just as regretful as I felt about missing such a sight.

"Oh," I sighed and pursed my lips as I strolled closer to the nest. Four occamies sat in coils, speaking their own little language to each other as I sighed. Damn it. We were missing two, and I didn't even get to see their births!

"We're missing two of them, then." I pursed my lips, not entirely focused on my companion as he came to stand next to me.

"Er. Actually, we're missing only one." He murmured near my ear, forcing me to realise just how close he was standing when I felt his breath on my neck. I stiffened ever so slightly, suddenly aware of every hair on my forearms as they raised.

"Theres...only four her-" I motioned lightly at the nest, turning my head slightly to peer at him and stopped. He was holding a single silvery egg in his hand, holding it out to me.

"I've been keeping him close. He's the last one to hatch and...I wanted you to see him." Newt ran a hand through his hair, holding his wand steady against the dirty blond strands.

"He _still_ hasn't hatched?" I raised my brows, bringing my hands up to grasp the egg with a careful touch.

"No. He hasn't." Newt shook his head softly and I could see his eyes studying my every move from the corner of my eye as I brought the egg closer.

"I wonder why not," I mumbled, inspecting the egg for any imperfections as I held onto it. All of his siblings had, so why hadn't this little guy? I could feel a steady heart beat against the shell, he wasn't a stillborn. Perhaps he was just shy, or a late bloomer.

"Maybe he-" Newt began but the egg quickly silenced him as a crack suddenly formed. I let out a quiet gasp with a small smile lighting my face whilst the occamy inside the egg decided he needed an audience to make his entrance into the world.

Apparently the extra incubation time did him well as his beak made short work of cracking the egg open while we watched on in awe. He mewled softly, blinking once as Newt and I gazed at him with slivers of his egg cracking and falling to the ground beneath us.

"It seems he just needed you." Newt noted with a soft whisper next to me and I simply grinned, too enthralled with the wee creature coiled in my hands to speak.

"He's perfect." I declared, offering him to Newt as I knew he considered himself the 'mummy' to all his creatures. We both agreed that mums ought to be the first to hold their children but to my surprise he shook his head.

"You don't want to hold him?" I raised a brow as my grin shrunk into a frown, confused with this new change in his personality.

"No, uh. He-he's yours, if you want him. Of course." Newt took a step back, motioning at the pair of us with an unsure smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"I'd love to have him." It didn't take me long to grin once more. I turned my gaze downwards, away from the Magizoologist and back to the little creature I suddenly had under my wing. A soft tug at my hem of my trousers reminded me that this wasn't the only creature I had depending on me.

Oh shite. I hope Aurelius is ready to share.

* * *

 _My next update goal is: **April 4th, 2019.**_

 _Alright so...there were questions from the reviewers above which I'd love to answer!_

 _But...they are spoilers for this story and it's upcoming chapters/sequel. _

_So stop bloody reading if you don't want to hear about them!_

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 _Alright! You can't say I didn't try, it's on you now, mate._

So, this is mainly to Guest 4 as she had the most questions about the sequel, but it should answer everyone else's as well. :)

After this whole movie thing, I'm thinking they'll just go ahead and go after the Peruvian viper dragon thing. It'd definitely help build up the relationship, y'know? But I also have to consider the fact that with Credence's whole 'lets destroy New York because I'm angry', Newt gets deported back to the UK. He's also basically on a watchlist afterwards. I've yet to think of a way to deal with that since the mooovie doesn't even touch on it! The bastards.

The lion-cub-thing will be used when they're recapturing the creatures, actually! I'd planned on having a scene where the little guy got a bit curious and ventured out into the world where they end up finding him! :)  
Speaking of the recapturing the creatures scene, I am ever so sorry but I haven't decided on keeping Jacob or ditching him! If I keep him, I _promise_ it'll be for comedic purposes, so please don't tear out your hair! It tried so hard to grow on your head and it likes it there. (Mine's been constantly falling out, *sigh*)

As for le marriage, well...probably not but I'm not giving it away right now! They're so bloody awkward that I feel like Queenie or Dumbledore would have to smack them over the head with a newspaper and go: 'COMMITMENT. THINK ABOUT IT, YA BLOODY IDIOTS.' Plus, it'd definitely keep Theseus's mind off of possibly pursuing Ara.

I do hope to continue on to a sequel, I really do and with how this is going, I'm thinking I will! So no worries on your wishes affecting me like that. :)

But! This is all I'll give away this go around as I like to keep my readers wondering! You guys do come up with some brilliant ideas in the mean time between chapters. :)


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